Venus and Mars to approach the Sun during Orthodox Christmas
During Orthodox Christmas celebrations, residents of Earth will be able to observe a rare astronomical phenomenon. From January 6 to 9, 2026, Venus and Mars will simultaneously draw close to the Sun, Qazinform News Agency reports.
According to the Solar Astronomy Laboratory of the Institute of Space Research, such a configuration of celestial bodies is extremely rare. The phenomenon is known as a conjunction, during which Venus and Mars, as seen from Earth, appear at a minimal angular distance from the solar disk. The peak of the event is expected on the night of January 6-7, coinciding with Orthodox Christmas.
Calculations show that on January 8, 2026, the angular distance between the planets and the Sun will be less than one degree. Over the past five centuries, such a close simultaneous conjunction of Venus and Mars with the Sun has occurred only three times - in 1669, 1682 and June 1968. In the current millennium, a similar phenomenon is expected only four times: in 2026, 2267, 2324 and 2623.
Experts from solar activity laboratories note that an even rarer occurrence is the coincidence of such an astronomical event with a specific calendar date. The probability that the exact conjunction falls on January 7 is estimated as an event that may occur only once in several thousand years.
The phenomenon can be observed only with strict safety precautions, as the apparent proximity of the planets occurs close to the solar disk.
As Qazinform News Agency reported earlier, in 2025 residents of Astana had already witnessed a rare astronomical event. On September 7, a total lunar eclipse began over the capital, during which the Moon took on a distinctive reddish hue known as the “blood Moon.”
