Overview
- Russia’s IKI RAS said Venus and Mars would converge with the Sun on January 6–8 in an unusually tight sky alignment sometimes dubbed a “Bethlehem star.”
- Astrophysicist Sergey Yazev stressed the trio cannot be seen from Earth because the planets lie within about one degree of the Sun and are lost in its glare.
- Engineer Mikhail Maslov advised that amateurs can watch the event in real time using imagery from the SOHO solar observatory, with the closest pairing expected on January 8.
- IKI RAS projected the next simultaneous sub-degree conjunction of Venus and Mars with the Sun only in 2267.
- Scientists noted Mercury is also near the Sun and the three planets with the Sun are set to form a near-rhombus configuration around January 22 before the pattern breaks up.