Venus and Mars shine in the southwestern sky as seen from Madison County, Ohio Friday evening.  The planets appear at their closest (5 degrees) until both appear in the morning sky in October when they have a spectacular conjunction.

The planets separate rapidly during the next few weeks as Venus moves toward the sun for inferior conjunction in late March.

For more information about the Venus-Mars encounter and other planet observations, see these articles:

• 2017 Evening Planets
• 2017 Morning Planets
• Venus as an Evening Star, 2016-2017
• Venus as a Morning Star, 2017
• Chart and Image Collection
• The Venus-Mars Encounter
• Jupiter’s Year with Spica:  A Triple Conjunction

Categories: Astronomy, Sky Watching

Tags: astronomy, Mars, Planets, sky watching, Venus