Close Encounter of a Planetary Kind

As I described last month, Venus and Saturn are rapidly approaching one another in the twilight sky. This is a reminder that they will be less than a degree apart on the evening of July 1, and will be a spectacular sight either with the naked eye or in a small telescope at low magnification.

You won't believe until you see it how much larger and brighter Venus is than Saturn, both because of its closeness and its higher reflectivity. Don't miss this!

July 2007

Geoff has been a life-long telescope addict, and is active in many areas of visual observation; he is a moderator of the Yahoo "Talking Telescopes" group.