Approaching a Conjunction

Evening Trio

Each day the planets Venus and Jupiter are drawing closer together in the evening sky, as Jupiter gradually sinks into the western twilight and Venus holds course. The two will have a close encounter (conjunction) on June 30th, but already the two are a striking pair in the evening sky, made more interesting by the waxing crescent Moon this weekend. Look for the trio just after sunset (around 8:45 pm in San Francisco) and watch them become more and more brilliant as the sunset sky turns to dusk and eventually to darkness.

Image courtesy of Sky & Telescope.