Venus has been a bright beacon in the evenings lately. In a week or two, Venus will lie between the Earth and the sun, minimizing our interplanetary distance.

Before sunrise I also noticed Jupiter in the south, and GoSkyWatch confirmed Saturn was visible a few moons’ widths away. Pluto was optically even nearer to Jupiter than Saturn, but was invisible, of course.

It turns out the inner six planets will fall within the same narrow angle this July, all fairly close to alignment with the sun. (Even Uranus and Nepture will be within the same third of a circle.)