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Venus and Saturn will put on a dazzling display in the night sky this weekend, shining next to each other during a close. connection. The planets will appear close on Saturday and Sunday evening.
Venus and Saturn will be in conjunction this weekend, appearing side by side in the late night sky … [+]
Key facts
Easily visible to the naked eye above the southwestern horizon after sunset, the conjunction is the highlight of January’s “planet parade,” during which four bright planets—and a surprise comet—are visible each evening.
Venus and Saturn will appear closest together on Saturday, when they will be separated by just 2.1 degrees in the constellation of Aquarius, according to In-The-Sky.org. This is roughly the width of an index finger held at arm’s length.
The best time to view will be about 45 minutes after sunset where you are. Venus and Saturn will set less than four hours after sunset, shortening the viewing window.
Although both planets will be easy to see, there will be a massive contrast in their brightness, with Venus shining 110 times brighter than Saturn.
Jupiter and Mars will also be visible in the night sky. Rising in the east, Jupiter can be seen high in the sky in the constellation Taurus with golden-looking Mars below in Cancer. Both will rise higher as darkness falls and will be visible throughout the night.
The connection is an illusion. On Saturday, Venus and Saturn will be separated by 875 million miles — about eight times the distance between Venus and Earth.
Although no equipment is required to see the conjunction, a pair of binoculars or a small telescope will reveal that Venus is a crescent. Since they are the inner planets, as seen from Earth, Venus and Mercury appear waxy and dim in brightness to us. Venus is currently shrinking into a crescent moon as it approaches Earth.
The following planetary highlight after the Venus-Saturn conjunction is the appearance of Venus near a waxing crescent after sunset on February 1. Saturn will be seen below Venus.
Background
This weekend’s Venus-Saturn conjunction is undoubtedly the highlight of the current planet-gazing season. The night sky appearance of Venus, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars – as well as Uranus and Neptune (which are too faint to see) – is being mistakenly promoted on social media as a rare “once in 396″ planetary alignment billion years”. specifically on January 21. Since all the planets revolve around the sun in the same plane—called the ecliptic—the planets are always aligned.
Whether the planets are visible or not depends on how we change our perspective. As the Earth revolves around the sun, the planets move in and out of the sun’s glare from our perspective. It just so happens that the bright planets are currently visible from the night side of Earth.
Venus as the ‘evening star’
Venus is currently in its “evening star” display, approaching Earth during its shortest 225-day orbit of the sun. Its speed and proximity to Earth are causing it to glow and grow in apparent size as it approaches, simultaneously becoming a crescent moon. It will make its closest approach to Earth on February 19, reaching a brilliant magnitude of -4.9 despite being only 13% illuminated. As it passes Earth, Venus will sink rapidly from the sky after sunset and pass into the sun’s glare on March 22. It will then appear as a bright “morning star” before sunrise.
tangential
Only a small telescope will detect Saturn’s rings, but 2025 is not the best year to see them. Since Saturn rotates on an axis tilted by 27 degrees, its tilt occasionally causes its rings to align with the line of sight from Earth. This is what is happening on March 23, when the rings will be at the edge of the Earth. However, Saturn will be lost in the sun’s glare by then. By the time it’s brightest in the sky — during its opposition on September 21 — the rings will be partially visible again.
Further reading
