![Venus and Mars in close conjunction in the dawn sky on October 5, 2017.](https://media.nbcdfw.com/2021/07/GettyImages-1134057649-e1625871364822.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&resize=320%2C180)
Stargazers and astronomers are in for an exciting week as Earth's closest neighbors will be at their closest points in the night sky.
During the month of July, Venus and Mars have been progressively getting closer together.
On the night of July 12 and into the early hours of July 13, Venus and Mars will be at their closest.
This alignment is called planetary conjunction, meaning that both of the planets will be easily visible in the same field of view despite being far away from each other, NASA said.
Get top local stories in DFW delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC DFW's News Headlines newsletter.
According to NASA, Venus and Mars are targets for the next generation of space exploration, and new missions to study Venus have recently been announced by NASA.