(WHSV) - Venus and Saturn meet up in the sky this week while Jupiter does something it won’t do again until the late 2050s!

JUPITER REACHES PERIHELION

On Friday, Jupiter will reach perihelion in which Jupiter will reach its closest point to the Sun with its orbit. On Friday, Jupiter will be 460.224 million miles away from the Sun.

Earth reached its perihelion earlier this month and does so on a yearly basis. For Jupiter, this only happens about every 12 years due to its much longer orbit. While Jupiter’s next perihelion comes in 2034, Jupiter will not be this close to the Sun again until the late 2050s!

VENUS KISSES SATURN

On the evenings surrounding Sunday, Venus will be in very close conjunction with Saturn. The duo will be able to be viewed together in binoculars from Friday, January 20th to Tuesday, January 24th. They will also share a view in backyard telescopes from Saturday, January 21st to Monday, January 23rd. Sunday evening will be when Venus makes its closest approach to Saturn.

Saturn will be located half a finger’s width to Venus’ right Sunday evening. You’ll want to wait until the Sun has set to view them in binoculars or a telescope. There will be a tight window to be able to view the duo, they’ll only be in the sky until around an hour after sunset. You can also catch Jupiter way above to the left of Venus and Saturn.

GAINING DAYLIGHT

This week, we will gain 12 minutes of daylight. By January 23rd, we will be back up to 10 hours of daylight and down to 14 hours of nighttime! The last time we had 10 hours or more of daylight was back on November 18th, 2022. Sunrises will move from 7:31 am to 7:27 am and sunsets will move from 5:19 pm to 5:27 pm.

Daily Sunrise/Sunset Times this week:

ISS VIEWING (MOST VIEWABLE)

NEXT MOON PHASES

CURRENT PLANET VIEWING OPPORTUNITIES

Venus: In the southwestern sky at sunset, limited viewing, sets in the southwest before 7 pm

Mars: In the eastern sky at sunset, visible most of the night, sets in the northwest after 4:30 am

Jupiter: In the south-southwestern sky at sunset, sets around 11 pm in the west

Saturn: In the southwestern sky at sunset, limited viewing, sets in the western sky before 8 pm.

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