“Starlit Waltz: Witness the Cosmic Dance of Venus and Saturn in January 2025!”

If you appreciated the view of Venus alongside the crescent Moon in the night sky on 3 January 2025, you’ll be delighted to learn that the display of Venus is far from finished.

Venus will remain radiant and observable to the unaided eye for the remainder of January 2025, and beginning on 10 January, will engage in a gradual approach with the planet Saturn in the night sky.

The meeting of Venus and Saturn can be seen in the early evening, as the sky darkens following sunset.

Viewing Venus and Saturn this month

Venus is currently luminous and visible to the naked eye, shining at mag. –4.3. You can locate it this month positioned above the southwestern horizon in the early evening, resembling a bright ‘star’ in the twilight sky.

Saturn is less bright at mag. +0.8 and is situated in the same area of the sky as Venus in January 2025, just positioned slightly above and to the left of it. Although it won’t shine as brightly as Venus, it is, nonetheless, present!

On 3 January, Venus was accompanied by a 16%-illuminated waxing crescent Moon, which has excited many novice stargazers to discover what lies ahead for the planet in the evening sky.

A genuine delight for stargazers will be witnessing Venus gradually move closer to Saturn in the evening sky throughout the month.

On 10 January, Venus will be positioned 47.2° from the Sun, having attained the greatest eastern elongation.

This indicates that, if one were to look down on our Solar System, you would find that two imaginary lines drawn from Earth to Venus, and then from Venus to the Sun, would form a right angle.

On 10 January, Venus will appear close to Saturn, with the two planets separated by only 7.5° in the sky.

They will gradually draw closer together during the week following that date, until 18 January, when Venus and Saturn will be just 2.2° apart.

For context, this means it would be possible to fit only four full Moons between the two planets as observed from Earth.

Following this, Venus and Saturn will begin to pull apart each night, bringing this celestial dance to a conclusion.

Take a moment to spot Venus and Saturn each night over the coming week and witness their approach.

Our gratitude goes to Pete Lawrence from Sky at Night for providing information regarding Venus, Saturn, and Moon for January 2025.

If you observe Venus and Saturn throughout January 2025 or manage to take any photographs, please do share them with us at contactus@skyatnightmagazine.com.