Venus and Jupiter are meeting in rare planetary conjunction! Moon to join up too!

Skywatchers have another chance to catch a rare planetary conjunction of Venus and Jupiter. And Moon will join them soon.

By: HT TECH
| Updated on: Feb 20 2023, 12:10 IST
Best NASA Astronomy Pictures of the week: Comet ZTF, Hydra Galaxy Cluster, Airglow and more
Venus and Jupiter
1/5 Green Comet ZTF sweeps past Mars (Feb 13) - It is a picturesque image of Comet ZTF as it swept past Mars on February 10 and 11. Although the comet is no longer visible to teh naked eye, its picture was captured by astronomers as it appeared as a long faint object speeding away from the Sun. Its dust tail and ion tail were captured towards the bottom-right and the top of the image respectively. (NASA/Donato Lioce)
Venus and Jupiter
2/5 Heart and Soul Nebulae (Feb 14) - NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day on February 14 was a celebration of Valentine's Day in the form of the Heart and the Soul Nebulae which are located about 6000 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Cassiopeia. Both nebulas shine brightly in the red light of energized hydrogen, one of three colors shown in this three-color montage. Light takes about 6,000 years to reach us from these nebulas, which together span roughly 300 light years.  (NASA/Juan Lozano de Haro)
Venus and Jupiter
3/5 Airglow (Feb 15) - NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for Feb 15 was a stunning picture of Airglow in the skies over Château de Losse in southwest France. It wasn’t just airglow that was visible. Various celestial objects were also seen, including Orion Nebula, California Nebula, Andromeda Galaxy, Mars, Sirius, Pleiades Star Cluster and the Milky Way Galaxy.  (NASA/Julien Looten)
Venus and Jupiter
4/5 Hydra Galaxy Cluster (Feb 16) - Hydra Cluster of galaxies is one of the three large galaxy clusters within 200 million light-years of the Milky Way and it is surrounded by millions of stars. The galaxy cluster is over 100 million light-years away in the constellation Hydra. Three large galaxies near the cluster center, two yellow ellipticals (NGC 3311, NGC 3309) and one prominent blue spiral (NGC 3312), are the dominant galaxies, each about 150,000 light-years in diameter. (NASA/Marco Lorenzi/Angus Lau/Tommy Tse)
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5/5 Asteroid 2023 CX1 (Feb 17) - A 3.2 feet wide asteroid lit up the skies over Europe on February 12 as it turned into a fireball. The asteroid, named SAR 2667 or Asteroid 2023 CX1, turned into a fireball over the European skies where it was captured by astronomers and skywatchers. It was first discovered by Krisztian Sarneczky with a 2-foot telescope at Konkoly Observatory's Piszkesteto Station, located about 100 kilometers northeast from Budapest.   (NASA/Gijs de Reijke)
Venus and Jupiter
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On March 1, the two planets - Venus and Jupiter - will make their closest approach. (Pexels)

A rare phenomenon is happening up in the sky! Two of the brightest planets in our solar system, Jupiter and Venus, are about to meet! At least, that's what humans will experience on Earth. The two most bright planets visible in the sky, namely, Venus and Jupiter, have been moving closer to each other. At the beginning of this month, their distance from each other was approximately 29 degrees, Space.com reported. Earlier, these two planets seemed to be separated by around "three fists" from each other. However, as time has passed, they have been coming nearer to each other, with an average drop in their distance of about one degree per night.

Now on February 20, the distance between the two planets will be just a little over nine degrees. Further, on February 27, the gap between the planets will be diminished to just 2.3 degrees. So when are these two planets at their closest? Here's everything to know about this rare planetary conjunction.

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When and how to watch the meeting of Venus and Jupiter?

On March 1, the two planets will reach their closest proximity, with a mere 31 arc minutes or 0.52 degrees separating them, Space.com confirmed. Jupiter will radiate twice as luminous as Sirius, the brightest star in the sky. On the other hand, Venus will glow six times brighter than Jupiter! Using binoculars can considerably improve the observation of this fascinating occurrence.

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Venus and Jupiter conjunction: Moon coming too

Not just these two planets, but the Moon will join the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter soon. “As if having the two brightest planets calling our attention to them in this month's evening sky wasn't enough, the moon will add its own special luster to this array during the evenings of Feb. 21 and 22,” the report mentioned. On February 21 evening, just look up towards the west-southwest horizon approximately one hour after sunset and here you will witness the slender crescent moon. While Jupiter will appear around 8 degrees above it and to the left of Venus.

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First Published Date: 20 Feb, 12:05 IST
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