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.
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| 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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