Three planets are so closely placed in our western sky and you can see two of them. Saturn and Venus are so close together, you might imagine that they can have a conversation. What you can't see is Neptune, which is right there nearby.
Take a look in the coming week for Venus and Saturn hovering low in the western sky after sunset. There proximity to each other is so close, you might think they are connected. Saturn is almost a billion miles away. By comparison, Venus is only 154 million miles away. Neptune, too far away to see, is 2.7 billion miles away. Yet the three planets appear so close, within a circle, less than two degrees in size.
This is the magic of the solar system's plane. The planets circle the sun in a narrow plane that we can visualize as a large flat disk, like a spinning record; except the planets circle the sun at their own unique speed.
In the days ahead, it will be harder to find Saturn as it sinks, along with Neptune, closer to the setting sun. However, Venus is climbing and will continue to appear higher and higher in the western sky each night.
Moon and Antares
Take a look Tuesday in the early hours of morning, well before the light of dawn and sunrise, for the waning gibbous moon appearing within a few degrees of the bright star Antares, in the southern sky. Antares is the bright red star in the zodiacal constellation Scorpius.
| Day | Sunrise | Sunset |
|---|---|---|
| Fri., March 6 | 6:09 | 5:37 |
| Sat., March 7 | 6:07 | 5:38 |
| Sun., March 8 | 6:05 | 5:39 |
| Mon., March 9 | 6:04 | 5:41 |
| Tues., March 10 | 6:02 | 5:42 |
| Wed., March 11 | 6:00 | 5:43 |
| Thurs., March 12 | 5:59 | 5:44 |
| Fri., March 13 | 5:57 | 5:45 |
| Day | Max (Fº) | Min (Fº) | Inches |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb. 27 | 45 | 27 | 0.00 |
| Feb. 28 | 46 | 24 | 0.00 |
| March 1 | 49 | 28 | 0.00 |
| March 2 | 45 | 18 | 0.00 |
| March 3 | 33 | 12 | 0.00 |
| March 4 | 42 | 32 | 0.69 |
| March 5 | 49 | 27 | 0.00 |
This article appears in March 6, 2026.