The two morning planets, Venus and Mars, are really close together. Late next week, the two will be in conjunction. Venus is the easiest of the two to see. The planet outshines all of our naked eye planets. There is no missing it if you have a good view of the southeastern sky an hour before sunrise.

Mars will be harder to spot, but it is there. Mars is considerably dimmer than Venus and may take some effort, like a pair of binoculars to spot. With the glare of dawn Mars requires a bit of a search. The two will be closest together during daylight on Thursday.

Take a chance and look for them in the early morning sky any morning in the week ahead.

Mars is going to be far more important to us later in the calendar year. The planet gets closest to the us in January of 2025. The show begins with Mars gaining altitude in our morning skies in the months ahead. By summer the planet will appear in the sky easily visible after midnight.

Venus, however is losing altitude. The planet in the months ahead will drift closer to the morning eastern horizon before sunrise, disappearing, then shifting to an evening planet by the start of summer.