Two bright planets will approach each other in our evening sky during the next couple of weeks. They are Mars, which was so brilliant during the Christmas season of 2007 and has since diminished dramatically in brightness, and Saturn, which has adorned our evening sky since midwinter.

Both worlds are now visible about one-third of the way up from the western horizon as darkness falls.

And as a bonus, located between these two planets is the bright star Regulus, in the constellation of Leo, the Lion. Yellow-white Saturn, shining sedately at magnitude +0.4, is located above and to the left of Regulus, while the much dimmer Mars appears below and to the right of Regulus. At magnitude +1.6, Mars has now fallen to the rank of second magnitude and appears only one-half as bright as Saturn. Regulus, meanwhile is roughly midway in brightness between the two planets.

On this scale of brightness, smaller numbers represent brighter objects.

If you watch the sky carefully through the next two weeks, you'll be able to take note of the changing positions of these two planets and nearby star, relative to each other.

continue....