Starting on Tuesday, Jupiter and Venus will be so close in the night sky that you could cover them both with the tip of an outstretched finger.

The two planets will be just a third of a degree apart as seen from North America.

“To the eye they’ll look like a double star,” said Kelly Beatty, a senior editor at Sky & Telescope magazine. “Anyone who hasn’t glanced at the evening sky for a while will be surprised by how dramatically tight the pairing is.”

They will be easy to spot as the brightest objects in the sky, after the sun and moon. Venus, appearing as a crescent, will be even brighter than its neighbor. Not far to their upper left, appearing much fainter, is Regulus, the alpha star in the constellation Leo.

They will remain no greater than 2 degrees apart — a thumb’s width at arm’s length – until July 4.

Read the article “Jupiter, Venus to Converge in Star of Bethlehem Moment” on cbsnews.com.