Venus and Saturn will perform a dazzling show in the night sky this weekend, shining next to each other during a close conjunction. The planets will appear close on both Saturday and Sunday evenings.

This weekend's Venus-Saturn conjunction is arguably the highlight of the current planet-watching season. The appearance in the night sky of Venus, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars -- as well as Uranus and Neptune (which are too faint to see) -- is being mistakenly promoted on social media as a "once in 396 billion years" rare planetary alignment, specifically on Jan. 21. Since all planets orbit the sun on the same plane -- called the ecliptic -- planets are always aligned.

Whether planets are visible or not depends on our changing perspective. As Earth orbits the sun, planets move in and out of the sun's glare from our point of view. It just so happens that the bright planets are currently visible from the night side of Earth.

Venus is currently in its "Evening Star" apparition, approaching Earth during its shorter 225-day orbit of the sun. Its speed and proximity to Earth are causing it to brighten and grow in apparent size as it moves closer while simultaneously becoming a crescent. It will get closest to Earth on Feb. 19, reaching a brilliant magnitude of -4.9 despite being just 13%-lit. As it passes Earth, Venus will rapidly sink out of the post-sunset sky and cross into the sun's glare on Mar. 22. It will then emerge as a bright "Morning Star" before sunrise.

Only a small telescope will reveal Saturn's rings, but 2025 is not the best year to look at them. Since Saturn rotates on an axis tilted by 27 degrees, its tilt occasionally causes its rings to align with the line of sight from Earth. That's what's happening on Mar. 23, when the rings will be edge-on to Earth. However, Saturn will by then be lost in the sun's glare. By the time it's brightest in the sky -- during its opposition on Sept. 21 -- the rings will again be partly visible.