When you enter the gate, look slightly left in the clearing for two bright objects in the sky after sunset. In mid-February 2023, brilliant Venus gets higher in the west with each passing day and approaches the giant planet Jupiter above it.
![Western horizon with Venus and Jupiter circled](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/4c0e6f_d28bc0b548c84deaaf1c84540b5a13e3~mv2.jpeg/v1/fill/w_980,h_735,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/4c0e6f_d28bc0b548c84deaaf1c84540b5a13e3~mv2.jpeg)
Watch Venus glide closer to Jupiter until Wednesday, February 21, when a tiny sliver of a moon enters the stage just below Venus. The resplendent crescent may be a challenge low in the west, but worth seeking (like from the green of hole #1 on the East golf course).
![Illustration of moon below Venus and Jupiter.](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/4c0e6f_b8ca0a02d97a4449b8c6eb08fdffa330~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_980,h_613,al_c,q_90,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/4c0e6f_b8ca0a02d97a4449b8c6eb08fdffa330~mv2.png)
![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/4c0e6f_e0ea21a487ee4b20a1eb95021d73d88f~mv2.jpeg/v1/fill/w_980,h_735,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/4c0e6f_e0ea21a487ee4b20a1eb95021d73d88f~mv2.jpeg)
The next night, February 22, the moon is easily found beside Jupiter, and Venus is closing in on Jupiter. If the angular diameter of the moon is about half a degree, then Jupiter is just over a degree away from the moon that Wednesday.
![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/4c0e6f_74a49ea4656e4d339b6e20a8ac88d6a7~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_980,h_783,al_c,q_90,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/4c0e6f_74a49ea4656e4d339b6e20a8ac88d6a7~mv2.png)
![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/4c0e6f_4c88044019344e6bb5cbc686d7a02ba2~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_980,h_1041,al_c,q_90,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/4c0e6f_4c88044019344e6bb5cbc686d7a02ba2~mv2.png)
Then, on March 1, the dancing planets in the western sky make their closest approach at conjunction, with brighter Venus to the right. What a sight! More details and illustrations are at Earth & Sky article.
If you're out stargazing, you may want to look for predicted flyovers of Starlink satellite strings. See https://www.nightwise.org/single-post/bright-line-is-string-of-50-satellites. And if you look overhead, that bright reddish object that appears like a star but doesn't twinkle is Mars.
Seize the night!