Watch Jupiter, Venus, moon align

Venus is similar in size to Earth. But its atmosphere is composed of clouds that have a lot of sulphuric acid. NASA

Saturday's Santa Ana winds may have given you a sinus headache. But they're also doing something wonderful. They've blown high clouds away from the coast, making the skies clear. So it will be easy to watch Jupiter, Venus and a crescent moon seem to align in the sky Saturday night.

"If you're at the beach on this hot(!) January day, it would be worth hanging around for a few hours after sunset to get an unobstructed view of Venus, the crescent moon and Jupiter over the ocean in the western sky. It should be quite a sight," says Allen Shafter, chair of the astronomy department at San Diego State University.

The best time to look is about 7:30 p.m. You'll see Venus just above the western horizon. The crescent moon will be above and slightly to the left. And Jupiter will be above and slightly to the left of the moon.

Jupiter will appear like it is close to the moon. But that's an optical illusion. The moon is roughly 250,00 miles from Earth. Tonight, Jupiter will be about 464 million miles away.

The skies are so clear the faint outline of San Clemente Island was visible from the San Diego County coastline on Saturday morning. The island is 75 miles off San Diego.

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