Tonight and tomorrow night – Tuesday and Wednesday, August 23 and 24, 2016 – the red planet Mars is passing in between the planet Saturn and the bright star Antares.
A conjunction is an alignment of objects on the sky’s dome.
A conjunction of Mars and Saturn isn't particularly rare. They happen about every two years. Mars' orbit around the sun takes about two years. The last conjunction of Mars and Saturn happened on August 27, 2014 and the next one will happen on April 2, 2018.
But this 2016 conjunction of Mars and Saturn is a very nice one! The planets are well placed for viewing in our sky, and they’ve formed this wonderful triangle across many months with Antares.
To see the conjunction, look to the southwest in the evening.
Chief Meteorologist Erin Christiansen will have the conjunction viewing conditions at 6 and 10.
