THERE is a real celestial treat in store for anyone who is up and about at around 5.30am on any clear morning over the next week - a close encounter of the planetary kind, writes STUART ATKINSON.

Venus has been dominating the eastern sky before sunrise for quite a while now, looking like a brilliant 'morning star.' Over the next week or so another planet, Mars, will appear to move towards it, a little closer each morning, until the two are almost on top of each other before dawn on October 5 and side by side on October 6. Of course they're not really moving closer to each other physically, it's just a line of sight effect to us here on Earth.

You won't need a telescope or even a pair of binoculars to see this, it will be plain to just your naked eye. Venus will look like a very bright blue-white star, and Mars will be to its lower left, looking like a fainter, more orange-hued star. Each morning they'll appear a little closer than the one before, until they swap places on October 6.

If you want to see this you'll need to be somewhere with a good view to the east, with no trees, houses or hills in the way which would hide the planets from view. If you have a pair of binoculars use them to look at the pair on the 5th and 6th and you'll see them more clearly, just a Moon's width apart.

Stuart Atkinson