Simon's Blog - The Sky At Night

It might just look like a lovely sunset in Brighton that Andy Holloway from Peacehaven took a photo of...but look again.

You should be able to see Venus with the naked eye and if you've a pair of binoculars or a telescope you shouldn't have any problems spotting Mercury nearby. Andy reckons they will be at their closest on January 10th.

Robert H Olley was also in the right place at the right time...with a camera!

He says "I took this photograph of Venus and Mercury on Thursday 8th at a quarter to five, from the Reading University Whiteknights campus, low above the south-western horizon.

These two planets will be doing a pasa doble for the next few days. At present, Mercury is about two moon-breadths down and to the right, but he will be moving up and on the 11th he will be one-and-a-half moonbreadths to the right of Venus, before moving off to the right over the next few days."

So keep an eye out and as ever if you manage to get a photo please drop me an email to meridianweather@itv.com or you can tweet me @SimonParkinITV if you're on Twitter.