Earth, the Moon and Mars come into alignment this weekend.

So far this summer has been all about super-bright Jupiter and, just 8 away, ringed planet Saturn, which have been dominating the southwestern night sky after dark.

This weekend its the turn of Mars, as the waning Moon passes close to the red planet. Three spacecraft are on their way to Mars right now, and its also a great time to admire it.

Mars is now creeping towards opposition in October, the point in its orbit when its closest to Earth, so as big and bright as it gets. Its already getting visibly bigger and brighter with every passing night.

Mars is rising earlier each evening, and this weekend is now in the sky before midnight, with a 65% illuminated waning gibbous Moon in tow.

Stargazers call this eventwhen two celestial bodies appear to pass close to each othera conjunction.

Look to the east around midnight on Friday going into Saturday and youll easily find a waning gibbous Moon.

Only those in North America will see the closest conjunction, at around 4:00 a.m. EDT on the morning of Saturday, August 8.

The Moon will be close to Mars on Friday night through Saturday morning.

You could even try to catch the Moon at moonrisethe most beautiful time to observe our satelliteby consulting this Moon calculator to get times for your exact location.

In doing so youll also witness a Mars-rise.

Just 0.8 north of the Moon will be Mars, shining at magnitude -1.3. Thats significantly brighter than any stars, so Mars will be obvious.

The conjunction of two of the night skys top sights isnt that rare, but there are few more pleasing celestial sights to unaided naked eyes than a bright Moon passing a bright, red planet.

Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.

See more here:

Mars And The Moon Will Align This Friday. Heres When And Where You Can See Them Rise Together - Forbes