Next week the brightest planet will move through one of the most beautiful objects in the night sky.

Venus has been rising all year and is now a blazing bright point of light in the post-sunset western sky after dark. No wonder, then, that it’s nicknamed the “Evening Star” when it’s visible after sunset like this.

The Pleiades (pronounced either “player-deez” or “plee-er-deez” and also known as the “Seven Sisters”) is a bright fuzzy patch of light that’s been impossible to miss all winter in the south after dark. It will soon sink into the Sun’s glare for summer, but before it does there’s time for one last visitor.

Here’s everything you need to know to see a rare conjunction of Venus and the Pleiades with your naked eyes as the bright planet becomes the “Eighth Sister:”

When is the conjunction of Venus and the Pleiades?

The conjunction of Venus and the Pleiades will occur on Monday, April 10, 2023. However, you should also look on Sunday and Tuesday nights when the two will be almost as close. If there’s a clear sky at sunset get outside and look west!

What is a conjunction?

A conjunction is an astronomical event that occurs when two celestial objects appear close together in the sky. It can involve planets, objects and/or the Moon.

How to see the conjunction of Venus and the Pleiades

It will be visible to the naked eye about 30° up in the west about 45 minutes after the sun disappears below the horizon, according to When The Curves Line Up, but to really appreciate the closeness of Venus to the Pleiades the best plan is to use a pair of binoculars. It should also be a relatively easy image to capture if you use a telephoto lens and a tripod.

As you get eyes-on with Venus and the Pleiades have a look close to the horizon for tiny Mercury, which on April 11 be the highest it ever gets in the post-sunset night sky.

Which star will Venus pass closest to?

Venus will pass within 2.6° of Alcyone, the brightest star in the Pleiades. The star is actually two giant hot “B” stars, with one of them having three smaller stars in orbit. Alcyone is 2,400 times as luminous as our Sun.

Why is Venus so bright?

Although Mars gets a lot of attention from astronomers because of the search for life, it’s Venus that’s the closest planet to Earth.

Go look at The Planets Today : A live view of the solar system and you’ll see that as Earth is orbiting the Sun it’s being tracked by Venus on the inside. That means Venus currently appears as far from the Sun as it ever can, from our point of view. Consequently it’s high in the sky after sunset.

What are the Pleiades?

The Pleiades, also known as the “Seven Sisters” and M45, is a open cluster of stars in the constellation Taurus about 440 light-years distant and a mere 100 million years old—newborn stars! They have seven or eight really bright stars, but over 100 in total.

There’s a lot of gas and dust between them, which could be the same gas and dust the stars themselves are formed from or just a dust cloud that the Pleiades happening to be passing through. Scientists aren’t sure.

The Pleiades are best seen between November and April—so this is the perfect time to get a last look at it moves into the daytime sky for summer.

How to look at the Pleiades

If you look at the Pleiades directly with naked eyes or with binoculars you should be able to make out about five or six of its stars forming the shape of a “mini Big Dipper.” However, that’s not the only way to look at them. The way to appreciate their collective brightness is to use a stargazing technique called averted vision. Either with naked eyes or using binoculars, look a little to the side of them and you’ll see them as a bright, glowing misty patch in the corner of your eyes. That’s because the human eye’s peripheral vision is very sensitive to brightness. It’s worth getting these two different views because the Pleiades is one of the most entrancing sights in the entire night sky. If averted vision doesn’t work for you,. try looking even farther away from the Pleiades until it brightens.

When is the next conjunction of Venus and the Pleiades?

The next visible Venus-Pleiades conjunction will occur on July 5, 2025, which will be much harder to see—and in a twilight sky—so make sure you have a look at this week’s event if skies and clear where you are.

Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.