Venus and Saturn look a bit jaundiced. But they achieve their yellowish color in different ways.

Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It’s about the same size as Earth. It’s topped by a perpetual blanket of clouds. The clouds are made of sulfuric acid, so they give the planet a bright yellow-white color.

Saturn is covered by clouds as well, but they consist of water vapor, ammonia, and hydrocarbons. The clouds are stretched into globe-encircling bands by Saturn’s high-speed rotation. Each band reveals a different layer of the atmosphere. The layers have slightly different mixtures of compounds, so they have slightly different colors – shades of white, yellow, and tan. Seen from afar, they give Saturn an overall hazy yellow-brown appearance.

Other than their color, there’s not much resemblance between the two planets. Venus is a rocky world like Earth, and its surface is blazing hot. Saturn is the second-largest planet in the solar system – a big ball of gas with a small solid core. And it’s encircled by bright, beautiful rings.

Venus and Saturn are in the southwest at nightfall. Venus is the brilliant “evening star” – the brightest point of light in the night sky. Tonight, Saturn stands quite close to the left of Venus. It’s only about half a percent as bright as Venus, but still easy to find. Venus will slide above Saturn on the following evenings. But they’ll stay close together for several nights.

Script by Damond Benningfield