A tthe end of January Venus will be a bright ‘evening star’ shining low in the southwest after sunset. You’ll see it glinting there as soon as darkness falls, looking like a bright silvery-white spark in the sky. You won’t be able to miss it. At the end of January Venus will have company in the sky – the ringed planet Saturn will be close by, shining just down to its lower right, much fainter to see than Venus itself but still visible to the naked eye. As January drifts into February Venus and Saturn will pull apart a little further each evening, and Venus will appear to close in on Jupiter, to its upper left. But if you have binoculars you’ll be able to see Venus having a close encounter of the cosmic kind with another planet, a planet that can’t even be seen with the naked eye.