In late 2005, Mars came to opposition in Aries, so ever since ending its retrograde motion, he has been racing eastward against the stars, by June 2006 reaching Cancer; Saturn, meanwhile, was at opposition on January 27, 2006, so since that time he has completed his retrograde loop and been moving eastward in Cancer.  Mars is only a few days away from passing Saturn, and on this date we also see Mercury in the midst of a good evening apparition.  Saturn is magnitude +0.11, Mars is +1.74, and Mercury is magnitude +0.04, with a distance of 23°01'03" between Saturn and Mercury.  Unannotated image