Venus and Mercury at perihelion and blue moons

Published: Oct. 25, 2020, 5 a.m.

Venus and Mercury will go through perihelion--their closest points to the sun--just days apart. The timing is a coincidence. But here's why planets have perihelia. Also, you might have heard that besides happening on Halloween, this week's full moon is called a blue moon. That term is popular now because of a mistake in a magazine in the 1940s.