Venus and Mercury Tonight

Venus and Mercury from my house looking southwest just after sunset.  Mercury is the faintest spot of light but, due to the orbits of the planets, it is actually closer to Earth right now - about 107,000,000 miles away.  Venus is brighter, yet further away from us at a distance of about 153,000,000 miles.  By comparison, the Sun is always roughly 93,000,000 miles away.
The position of the planets as given in my Solar Walk 2 app.  Notice the Earth (blue) is actually on the far side of the Sun compared with Mercury (yellow) and Venus (orange).  Mars (red) is ahead of Earth in orbit at the moment.

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