What were those two bright stars you saw in the western sky yesterday after sunset? They weren't stars. They were the two brightest planets, Venus and Jupiter, both of which are brighter than any star.

Jupiter has been rapidly approaching Venus for the last couple of weeks and by the 12th will be right next to it in the sky, a state of affairs astronomers call a conjunction.

They'll remain close together for the rest of the month, and when they are joined by a thin crescent moon on the 23-25, the western horizon will take on a new mystery.

 It's thought that a close conjunction of these same two planets, Venus and Jupiter, which occurred in the evening of June 17, 2 B.C., fused them visually to produce what looked like a single dazzling star: the Star of Bethlehem. Three wise kings watching from realms to the east of Palestine were perhaps inspired to make a journey when they saw a brilliant orb hanging in the west.

Soon, if you take the time to look at the evening sky in the next few days, you may have a similar experience and find inspiration to make your own journey--even if it only happens to be your spring break vacation.