Jupiter and Venus are closing in on each other in the western sky on June 9, giving stargazers a rare evening pairing that is close enough to fit in the same view through 10x50 binoculars. Venus sits less than 20 degrees above the horizon at sunset in the U.S., with Jupiter to its lower left and the two planets separated by less than 2 degrees.

That is why skywatchers are looking up tonight. The event lands after sunset, when the bright pair is still low enough to be framed against the glow of dusk, and Mercury is part of the same scene close to the western horizon, about 10 degrees below and to the lower right of Venus and Jupiter, though it is much harder to pick out than the brighter planets. In the same stretch of sky, Jupiter’s four Galilean moons — Io, Europa, Callisto and Ganymede — are among the details observers may try to catch.

For people across the U.S. and elsewhere with a clear western horizon, the display is a straightforward skywatching target: find Venus first, then look for Jupiter nearby before twilight fades. The two planets will not stay lined up for long. In the nights that follow, Venus will rise above Jupiter as it tracks toward Cancer, and on June 20 it will pass near the open star cluster Messier 44.

Jupiter, by contrast, is headed toward a short window of visibility. By early July it will be a challenge to spot in the glow of the setting sun, and it will not be seen again until mid-August, when it returns in the eastern morning sky. For observers tonight, that makes the June 9 conjunction the clearest chance to see both planets together before the scene changes quickly.