Watch the conjunction of Venus and Saturn in the free webcast on January 22nd

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During the evening of Sunday (January 22), the planets of the solar system, Saturn and Venus, will meet in the night sky and approach very closely. Fortunately, skywatchers who don’t want to contend with the bitter cold of January can watch the showdown from the comfort of their homes.

The Virtual Telescope project will stream the approach and arrangement, known as a “conjunction,” between Venus, the second planet from the sun, and Saturn, the second largest planet in the solar system. It will go live while the two planets will be separated by less than half a degree, which is less than the angular size of the full moon, and equals half the width of a finger at arm’s length.

The Venus-Saturn Conjunction Virtual Telescope Project will go live at 1:30 p.m. EDT (1830 GMT) on Sunday (January 22) and will be available to watch online for free from the project’s website (opens in a new tab) Or YouTube channel (Opens in a new tab).

Related: What time is the conjunction of Venus and Saturn on Sunday (January 22)?

Both Saturn and Venus can be seen with the naked eye in the night sky, but there is a significant difference between the brightness of the two. Venus is the brightest object in the sky after the sun and the moon, and during conjunction it will have a magnitude of -3.9. Saturn, famous for the rings that surround it, will have a magnitude of 0.7 during conjunction. (Negative numbers indicate bright objects in the sky.)

This means that Saturn will be 100 times weaker than Venus during the conjunction, according to the head of the Virtual Telescope project and astrophysicist Gianluca Massi. Massi will observe the conjunction of Venus and Saturn from Secano, Italy.

Illustration of the evening sky on January 22 depicting the conjunction of Venus and Saturn. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

During the conjunction, the two planets will be close enough in the night sky to be resolved using a telescope. Skywatchers will also be able to observe the conjunction with binoculars or with the naked eye, though Saturn is difficult to spot without the aid of an instrument.

Conditions for viewing the spectacle should be favorable, weather permitting, as the crescent moon will be only 2% illuminated the day after the January new moon on Saturday (January 21).

Illustration of the night sky on January 22 showing the conjunction of Venus and Saturn. (Image credit: Starry Night Software)

According to In the Sky (Opens in a new tab), from New York City, the conjunction of Venus and Saturn will become visible in the constellation Capricorn at approximately 5:18 PM EDT (2218 GMT) at about 14 degrees above the horizon to Southwest. The planets will set about two hours after the sun at 6:48 PM EDT (2348 GMT).

The conjunction of these planets marks the beginning of the evening appearance of Venus. According to Joe Rao of Space.com, the evening apparition of Venus will see it literally rise high in the sky by late spring, during which time the already bright planet will more than double in brightness.

With Venus rising above the horizon, during this period Saturn will lower in the night sky on each subsequent night, disappearing into the twilight as it does so. This leads to a solar conjunction with Saturn on February 16, 2023.

If you’re hoping to observe the conjunction of Saturn and Venus on your own, our guides to the best telescopes and best binoculars are a great place to start. If you’re looking to take some pairing photos, check out our best cameras for astrophotography and the best lenses for astrophotography.

Editor’s note: If you caught the conjunction between Saturn and Venus, and would like to share it with Space.com readers, send your photo(s), comments, name, and location to [email protected]. This story was updated on January 22 to include the new start time for this live broadcast and to include the YouTube video feed.

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