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Venus and Saturn in close encounter
Two bright planets are closing in for a spectacular rendezvous in the evening sky this weekend. Ringed wonder Saturn and the more brilliant Venus will be just two-thirds of a degree apart – a little more than the width of the Moon – at their closest.
Catch the pair in the darkening twilight.
You will find them just to the west of the sickle shape that forms the head of the Zodiacal constellation Leo.
The sky map here, produced with Starry Night Pro, shows the grouping from mid-northern latitudes at 21.25 UT on June 30. Saturn will lie just to the upper left of Venus, as seen in northern skies.
If you have a short-focus telescope that gives a wide-angle view at low powers, you might be able to see Saturn’s rings and the crescent phase of Venus in the same field of view.
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