14 August 2014

Jupiter & Venus Conjunction – Closest Approach Since 2000

After the Moon, the two brightest objects in the night sky are the planets Venus and Jupiter. Venus is a close neighbor and a very reflective planet, dominating morning and evening skies with its brilliant white shimmer against the changing colors of the dawn or dusk sky. Jupiter is the giant planet of the Solar System and despite its distance, is a bold and bright object for us to enjoy, especially in a telescope or binoculars.

Venus & Jupiter Conjunction
These two planets, like all of the objects in the Solar System, gradually change their position with respect to the background stars from day to day. All of the objects in the Solar System move along a common path across the sky, the Ecliptic. And from time to time these objects line up and create beautiful patterns and visually stunning sights.

On the morning of Monday August 18th (from North America), we will see Venus and Jupiter in a conjunction, a close alignment of the two bodies from our Earthbound point of view. The two will be in the east just before sunrise, so you’ll have to get up early to see this, but it will be rewarding. The two will be less than the Moon’s width apart, and given their bright nature, the pairing should be spectacular. Through binoculars, you will also be able to see a lovely star cluster, the Beehive Cluster, in the background of stars, as Jupiter and Venus will be in the constellation Cancer and passing through the Beehive.

The image (courtesy of Sky & Telescope) shows where to look. From San Francisco, sunrise will be at 6:30 am and the Venus-Jupiter pair will rise at 5:00 am, so you will need a good northeastern horizon to see the pairing, and the 30 minute window starting at 5:00 will provide the best dark-sky viewing conditions as the glare of dawn will start to interfere by 5:30.

You can find an excellent write up on the conjunction on Sky & Telescope's website. 

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