Venus Dances with Mercury (after sunset)

In the western sky after sunset on the evenings surrounding Wednesday, March 12, the inner planets Mercury and Venus will dance with one another. Both planets will be swinging sunward in their orbits and dropping lower night over night. Mercury and much brighter Venus to its right will be cozy enough to share the view in binoculars (orange circle) from March 8 onward. At closest approach on Wednesday, they will be 5.5 degrees apart. Good binoculars or a backyard telescope will show that Venus has a very slim, 5%-illuminated crescent phase (inset), while Mercury will be smaller and 26%-illuminated.