Look up Sunday after sunset as Venus and Saturn meet in evening twilight
FILE - Side by side image of Venus and Saturn. (NASA)
This weekend sky watchers will get a special treat as Venus and Saturn will meet for a conjunction and appear to be right next to each other.
Dig deeper:
On March 7 and March 8, Venus and Saturn will be about one degree apart from each other in the sky, which is about a single finger if you hold it out at arm’s length, according to Earthsky.org.
Where to look
In order to catch these two planets, you’ll need to look toward the western horizon about 30 to 40 minutes after sunset.
The brighter of the two planets will be Venus, with Venus appearing a tad larger than Saturn.
For optimal viewing, maybe use a pair of binoculars and try to get somewhere that has as little light pollution as possible.
FILE - Sky chart showing a conjunction between Saturn and Venus constellation on March 8, 2026. "Saturn" is labeled as well as "Venus." (NASA/JPL-Caltech)
What is a planetary conjunction?
The backstory:
A planetary conjunction is when two or more planets appear close together from our perspective from Earth, according to The Planetary Society.
Though Venus and Saturn will appear like neighbors in the sky on March 8, they are actually about 800 million miles apart.
The Source: Information for this article was taken from Earthsky.org, NASA’s website and The Planetary Society website. This story was reported from San Jose.