The Dance of the Planets is here yet again, with a conjunction of the planets Venus, Mars, Uranus, and the crescent Moon, all visible together tonight in the evening sky.
Venus and the Moon will of course be the brightest of these, but the reddish body of Mars should be fairly visible as well, of a similar magnitude to that of other bright ‘stars’. Uranus can sometimes be seen as a very dim ‘star’ with the naked eye, but use of binoculars will make it far easier to spot the distant planet.
This conjunction will be visible in the western portion of the late evening sky (after sunset will be when it’s easiest to see these celestial bodies, of course). At the same time as this conjunction in the western sky, the eastern sky will be seeing the rise of the fairly bright ‘star’ Jupiter.
Venus is moving steadily higher in the sky after sunset during the months of February and March, passing close to the planet Mars (closer than the diameter of the Moon as seen from the Earth), before passing very close to the planet Uranus in early March.
This dance of the planets is a relatively rare occurrence, and the planets of Venus and Mars actually haven’t appeared as close together in the sky (as they will tonight and tomorrow) since all the way back in 2008.
Those getting excited should of course remember that cloudy weather will mean that you can’t see anything, so don’t get too excited just yet. That said, the next couple of days (weeks really) should still offer interesting views as well — so if the weather isn’t great tonight, the next couple of days are worth a shot as well.
(Those interested in checking out some of the other major celestial events of the year should see: Meteor Showers 2015, Dates and Times, Lyrids, Perseids, Leonids, Orionids, Draconids, Geminids, Etc)
Good luck!
Image Credit: Observatory via Wiki CC
believe me I saw it clearly here in PA…got about 40 pictures and my husband shot a few himself…it was soooooooo beautiful
It became visible in europian sky yesterday evening. Americans were lucky to watch this with more closer conjunction of moon because moon got closest to mars, venus and Uranus by the evening time in American continent.
The view from southern UK around 7pm GMT
This was taken near Shelton, WA just before the moon dropped down over the horizon in the west.
This is amazing.
experienced from Vancouver island, british Columbia at 6:45pm on a walk did not even know what was happening. but knew it was different had to look on the internet thanks for all the info.
Here in the Las Vegas valley… Very clear.
I live in Washington state and could see it very clear. That’s why I researched what it really was. At first I thought the red I was seeing was a satellite. Now I just learned it’s mars. Venus is shining so bright . They are all so close together.
i see it outside. its trippy. Im in the Bay Area, CA
I saw this in my backyard a couple minutes ago! Ill tell you right now go outside and look at the moon its the most amazing thing i have ever seen <3
Taken from Edmonds, WA (just north of Seattle)
Here’s a couple shot just after sunset on the beach in Naples, FL
From Vermont.
This was exactly the pic we got..nice
up close on your computer, even better
Here it is Over Texas!
gorgeous shot!
Beautiful shot
Beautiful sight in VA sky just 45 minutes ago — “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars; and on earth distress of the nations, and confusion because of the roaring sea;” Luke 21.25
Saw it! Orlando. no uranus though
Great view tonight, east of Pittsburgh. clear skies.
I saw it out side and the moon was weird it was like an eclipse you could see a sliver at the BOTTOM of the moon and it looked a bit orange. None of this happens often in New Jersey
I’m in new jersey too and actually looked it up to see if there WAS an eclipse because it looked so awesome. Very cool.
We can see it in ERIE PA but its soo cold out if you blink in the -15F temps your eyelids might freeze together
I doubt you can actually see something unless you have professional equipment?
You can see it excellent with the naked eye here in MA tonight.
That is amazing, never thought that to be the case.
As clear a day up here in Montreal.. can’t see Uranus though (no pun intended LOL)
Hahaha good one 🙂
I saw the moon, Venus and Mars with the naked eye. I was just out walking my dog, and didn’t even know it was going to be happening.
Wow! Cool 🙂
naa! you just have to find Uranus and you’re fine 😀
We saw it at plain site in Gainesville, FL. I took these pics with my cell after zooming a little bit, you can see the color of Mars and Venus; you can see three objects and the moon. I had to Google it that night and I found this page 🙂 yep, it was Feb 20th 2015 a week ago; got me by surprise!