A Darker View

Over the next few nights Saturn will pass quite close to Mars. this is just one pairing in the ongoing dance of planets in the evening sky.

Mars and Saturn make particularly good dance partners, fairly evenly matched in brightness, Saturn at 1.0 magnitude and Mars at 1.5 magnitude. The colors are a nice contrast as well, the light butterscotch of Saturn compared to the orange of Mars.

The two will be closest tomorrow, July 30th at a separation of 1°45'. But as these planets are not moving very fast, they will be pretty close from tonight, through the next four nights at under 2° apart.

At the same time Venus is visible shining very brightly at magnitude -4.2, just 8° to the west. Mercury is another 18° west from Venus, close to the horizon as it grows dark.