There will be a rare planetary conjunction between Mars and Uranus in the constellation of Aries this weekend.
It's rare to see dim Uranus and a bright Mars at the same time in the night sky.
If you use a pair of binoculars, you will be able to see both planets.
The sun's planets will not be close to each other. In the early hours of Monday, August 1st, they will be just over 1 degree apart in the sky.
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Depending on where you are, the moment of closest conjunction will vary, but any night this weekend and into early next week, you will be able to see Mars and Uranus in conjunction. They will rise in the east around midnight local time and be visible high in the southeast until about two hours before sunrise.
You can see the very close conjunctions early on Monday and Tuesday.
The bright open cluster of stars in the night sky can be seen close to the planets.
It is technically possible to see Uranus with the naked eye, but using a small telescope or binoculars is a better bet. Both planets will be seen in the same way. Mars will be a red color while Uranus will be a green color.
The Virtual Telescope Project will be broadcasting live views of the Mars-Uranus conjunction through a telescope from Rome, Italy at 9pm. On August 1st and August 2nd, the sun will rise on August 1st and sunset on August 2nd.
During their conjunction, the planets will not be as bright. This weekend, Mars will shine at a magnitude of 0.2, which is about the same as a bright star. It will be more than 200 million km away from Earth. It will shine at a magnitude of 5.8 and be 2 billion miles away from the sun. That's close to the limit of naked eye visibility.
Mars is getting brighter because it is getting closer to the sun. That planet is visible all night thanks to the bright light. Our night sky has planets in it. On December 8th, Mars will reach a brightness of -1.9, which is about the same as the bright star in the sky.
The slower of the two planets, which takes 84 years to make one, comes to opposition once a year. Even though it is so far away from us, it will only shine at a magnitude of 5.7.
This weekend's conjunction with Mars is a rare chance to see the seventh planet in person.
It was originally published on Live Science
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