Watch the moon and Venus snuggle up together in a live webcast

Venus and the moon will meet up in the sky Thursday (May 26) and you can catch their greetings online.

The two worlds will shine in a conjunction and the Virtual Telescope Project plans a broadcast starting at 11 p.m. EDT (0300 GMT on Friday, May 27); you can watch in the window above or directly through the project's website

Top telescope pick!

Celestron Astro Fi 102

(Image credit: Celestron)

Looking for a telescope for the next planet sight or skywatching event? We recommend the Celestron Astro Fi 102 as the top pick in our best beginner's telescope guide

Venus and the moon will appear only one degree apart in the sky, according to founder Gianluca Masi. Conjunctions, or close approaches between planets and the moon in the sky, are very common because the major worlds nearby us orbit on the plane of the solar system, also known as the ecliptic

You can think of the ecliptic as a virtual highway in the sky upon which the planets, moon and sun appear to travel. Sometimes you even get eclipses when one world moves in front of another, from our perspective (or if the moon passes into the Earth's shadow, as what happens during a lunar eclipse.)

Related: The brightest planets in the night sky: How to see them (and when)

See Venus and the moon?

If you take a photograph of Venus and the moon let us know! You can send images and comments in to spacephotos@space.com.

In a few more weeks, you should be able to see as many as five naked-eye planets in the sky all at once: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. (Uranus and Neptune may also be visible with a strong telescope.) But these will all be aligning in the hours before dawn, while the evening sky gets more quiet.

If you're looking for binoculars or a telescope to see planets in the night sky, check our our guide for the best binoculars deals and the best telescope deals now. If you need equipment, consider our best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography to prepare for the next planet sight.

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Elizabeth Howell
Staff Writer, Spaceflight

Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years before joining full-time. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House and Office of the Vice-President of the United States, an exclusive conversation with aspiring space tourist (and NSYNC bassist) Lance Bass, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, "Why Am I Taller?", is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams. Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, a Bachelor of Journalism from Canada's Carleton University and a Bachelor of History from Canada's Athabasca University. Elizabeth is also a post-secondary instructor in communications and science at several institutions since 2015; her experience includes developing and teaching an astronomy course at Canada's Algonquin College (with Indigenous content as well) to more than 1,000 students since 2020. Elizabeth first got interested in space after watching the movie Apollo 13 in 1996, and still wants to be an astronaut someday. Mastodon: https://qoto.org/@howellspace