Two bright planets are approaching each other in our evening sky.

Mars, which was so brilliant last fall and has since diminished dramatically in brightness, and Saturn, which has adorned our evening sky since midwinter, are currently visible about one-quarter of the way up from the western horizon as darkness falls.

You shouldn’t confuse them with the nearby “Twin Stars” Pollux and Castor, in the constellation of Gemini. Mars and Saturn are located above and to the left of the Twins. Yellow-white Saturn, shining sedately at magnitude +0.4, will appear to the upper left of the much dimmer Mars, glowing with an orange-yellow hue.

At magnitude +1.8, Mars now appears more than three and a half times fainter than Saturn.

If you watch the sky carefully during this week, you’ll be able to take note of the fact that the two planets are slowly drawing closer to each other, by about a half-degree (the apparent width of the Moon) each night

Get the full details for this Joe Rao story over at SPACE so you can know exactly when and how to set up your telescopes.