Starwatch: Venus outshines Saturn in twilight conjunction

Planetary pairing will be visible to naked eye from across the globe

The brilliantly bright planet Venus passes Saturn this week in a particularly close conjunction that is visible across the globe. On the evening of Sunday 22 January, shortly after sunset, the two planets will appear low in the western sky, bathed in twilight.

The chart shows the view looking west-south-west from London at 17.30 GMT on 22 January. Saturn will appear to be 75 times fainter than Venus. This is because although Saturn's diameter of about 120,000km is almost 10 times wider than Venus, it is about seven times further away from Earth.