Venus Passes Uranus (pre-dawn)

The brilliant planet Venus will dominate the eastern predawn sky for most of this year while it slowly swings back toward the sun. On the mornings surrounding Friday, July 4, Venus will pass close enough to Uranus to allow early risers to use Venus to locate the far fainter planet in binoculars (orange circle). On the previous mornings, the magnitude 5.8, blue-green speck of Uranus will shine several finger widths to Venus’ left (or 3.5 degrees to its celestial northeast). At their closest approach on Friday the distant planet will be about half that distance to Venus’ upper left (or celestial north). From Saturday onward, Uranus will shift farther above Venus, but they will share the view in binoculars until about July 9. Watch for the bright Pleiades star cluster above Uranus.