Venus, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars will appear to line up and be bright enough to see with the naked eye in the first few hours after dark. This weekend, Venus and Saturn get especially cozy.

“Saturday evening, January 18: Venus and Saturn will appear nearest to each other. As evening twilight ends at 6:15 p.m. EST, Venus will be 30 degrees above the southwestern horizon with Saturn 2.2 degrees to the lower left. Saturn will set first on the western horizon almost 3 hours later at 9:04 p.m.”

I pick out North America’s celestial highlights for the week ahead (which also apply to mid-northern latitudes in the northern hemisphere).

Plus: Saturn’s moon Iapetus is visible, our Moon passes the bright star Spica, and Mars skims south of Pollux in Gemini in the sky this week.

Venus, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars are all visible after sunset, but social media claims about it being a rare "planetary alignment" are not correct. Here's how to see it.

This month's planetary alignment sees Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus visible in the night sky all at once. Here's what you need to know. View on euronews