Venus and Neptune
Venus and Neptune were approx. a degree apart last Jan. 14, 2012. I saw these planets within the field of view of my 80mm refractor telescope. Neptune has a visual magnitude of 8. 
Due to poor sky conditions, the evening star was my only guide to see the farthest planet. Thanks to Venus, I had my first glimpse of Neptune!
Boticelli’s painting, “The Birth of Venus” depicts the goddess Venus rising from the sea. I really like how this painting gives story to the conjunction of Venus and Neptune (Roman god of the sea) last friday. Thank you, Dr. Quirino Sugon, Jr. of the Manila Observatory for sharing this info.
To the stars!
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Stella's Gaze
Congratulations! I just want to add that Neptune is not the solar system’s farthest planet. Many astronomers, myself included, count dwarf planets as a subclass of planets. That makes Eris the farthest planet from the Sun.
[...] saw Neptune last month because of its close encounter with Venus in the sky. Last night, using the same method, I saw Uranus for the first [...]