Venus and Mars Conjunctions

Brilliant white Venus beside the steady red ember of Mars makes one of the prettiest color contrasts in the sky. The two meet a little more than once a year on average; here are the upcoming and most recent pairings.

Computing the next conjunction…

Conjunction date	In the zodiac	How close	Gap since previous

Dates and positions are computed live in your browser and are accurate to well under a degree. "How close" is the separation along the ecliptic; the zodiac position is the tropical longitude (0° at the spring equinox).

About this pairing

Venus, at about magnitude minus 4, outshines Mars by a wide margin, so in a Venus-Mars conjunction Venus is the dazzling one and Mars the smaller, distinctly orange point nearby. Their meetings come a little over a year apart on average, and the closest can bring them within a fraction of a degree.

Because Venus is never far from the Sun, these conjunctions sit low in the morning or evening twilight. Mars, an outer planet, ranges all around the zodiac, so the meeting point drifts from one pairing to the next; the table below shows where each one falls and how close the two pass.

For the wider pattern of how often any two planets line up, see the Synodic-Period Calculator, and for a live map of where the planets sit right now, the Live Orrery.

Frequently asked questions

How often do Venus and Mars meet?

A little more than once a year on average. Because Venus stays close to the Sun, the pairing is always low in the morning or evening twilight; the exact dates are in the table above.

How do you tell Venus and Mars apart?

Venus is the dazzling white one, near magnitude minus 4, while Mars is a fainter, distinctly orange point nearby. The color and brightness contrast is the easiest way to identify them.

Other conjunctions

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