Mercury and Venus Are All Set to Light Up the Morning Sky Together — Here's When to Watch
Celestial events like meteor showers, eclipses, and more often give stargazers a reason to look up to the sky with curiosity and excitement. Since such events don’t happen often, each one is a special opportunity to feel the vastness of our universe. Whether you’re an astronomy enthusiast or simply someone who enjoys looking at the sky, you're in for a treat. It has been reported that in the early morning hours on November 25, 2025, early risers will get a unique opportunity to witness two of the solar system’s closest planets, Mercury and Venus, shining together.
Such events are called conjunctions, and they take place when, from Earth’s perspective, two objects in the sky seem to line up so closely that they appear almost side by side. This upcoming conjunction is a unique opportunity because seeing both these inner planets at once is uncommon. While Venus is tricky enough, Mercury is even harder to spot as it is hidden by the Sun’s intense glare. During the conjunction, Venus will shine far brighter than Mercury, glowing at about -3.8 magnitude compared to Mercury’s -2; but both planets should still be visible without much difficulty.
To witness this rare alignment, make sure you have a clear look toward the southeast horizon, and keep a decent pair of binoculars ready. It has also been pointed out that as Mercury climbs higher into the morning sky during the conjunction, Venus will gradually drift downward toward the horizon. This will be one of the final chances to see Venus shining so brightly at dawn as the planet is approaching its superior conjunction in early 2026. It is a phase when it will pass between our planet and the Sun, causing its dazzling morning presence to fade.
In the weeks that follow, Venus will shift back into view after sunset, eventually shining at its brightest on September 22, 2026, as reported by Live Science. On the other hand, Mercury will reach its greatest western elongation on December 7, 2025, giving sky watchers another chance to spot this hard-to-see planet as it rises above the horizon shortly before sunrise. Meanwhile, earlier this year, in August, sky watchers came across a similar celestial event when they had a clear view of Venus and Jupiter, two of the brightest planets of the solar system, appearing side by side in a dazzling conjunction near the eastern horizon.
While Venus was glowing bright at around -4.0 magnitude, Jupiter, positioned at Venus’s upper left, glowed at about -1.9 magnitude. Jupiter appeared over twice as large as Venus in the sky, but Venus reflected sunlight much more powerfully as it is over seven times nearer to the Sun than Jupiter. Back then, the best view of the conjunction came about 45 minutes before sunrise. Usually, from Earth’s perspective, Venus and Jupiter align in a conjunction roughly every 13 months, or to be more precise, every 398.88 days.
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