Conjunction of near and far
In the predawn hours of Monday, look low on the southeastern horizon in the constellation of Sagittarius to see a planetary spectacle as Venus and Saturn rise in conjunction. With the two planets visually separated by just a little more than 1 degree, this close approach highlights the confounding nature of measuring the true distances of objects in the sky.
Venus is our closest neighbor in the solar system, although its distance varies as it and Earth progress through their respective orbits. Saturn is much farther away and is the most distant planet visible without the aid of optical instruments.
On Monday, Venus will be just over 90 million miles away from Earth. Saturn will appear as though it is next to Venus in the sky, but it is just shy of 1 billion miles away.
Like the way in which a nearby tree may appear taller than distant mountains, Venus appears significantly brighter than Saturn at a magnitude of minus 4 compared to Saturn’s magnitude of 0.6, even though Saturn’s rings are 24 times wider than the entire planet of Venus. Considering the true nature of our perspective only enhances the beauty of our line-of-sight wonder in this magnificent planetary conjunction.