I pick out North America’s celestial highlights for the week ahead (which also apply to mid-northern latitudes in the northern hemisphere).

Venus, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars will appear to line up and be bright enough to see with the naked eye in the first few hours after dark. This weekend, Venus and Saturn get especially cozy.

Venus and Saturn will appear extraordinarily close together in the night sky overnight on Jan. 17 during a celestial event known as a conjunction.

Venus and Saturn will be in conjunction this weekend, appearing side by side in the night sky during January's post-sunset "planet parade."

January 2025 ushers in an extraordinary planetary parade as Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars align in a rare and dazzling celestial event. This conjunction, visible throughout the month, presents a spectacular opportunity for stargazers to witness four of ...

On Jan. 4, Saturn briefly hid behind the crescent moon, escaping the view of skywatchers in Europe, Africa, western Russia and eastern Greenland in an event known as a lunar occultation. Astronomer Gianluca Masi shared a composite photo taken during the event using the Virtual Telescope Project in Manciano, Italy.

So I grabbed my camera, ran outside, and looked up just as Mars was supposed to emerge from the Moon's curved horizon. Seen with the naked eye, the Moon's brightness far outshined Mars, casting soft shadows on a cold winter evening in East Texas.

A six-planetary alignment will occur around Jan. 21. Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune will appear in one ecliptic plane in the southern and eastern sky after sunset; however, only Mars, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn will be visible to the naked eye. You will need a telescope to see Uranus and Neptune.

Plus: Saturn’s moon Iapetus is visible, our Moon passes the bright star Spica, and Mars skims south of Pollux in Gemini in the sky this week.

Rare planetary alignment featuring Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars promises celestial splendour in the southern hemisphere's twilight skies.

There are six planets in the night sky all week, four of them visible to the naked eye and two of them getting very close indeed. Here's how to watch.

Alignments of five or more planets are rare—there will be two more featuring five or more planets this year, but after that the next won’t happen until 2040.