Turn your attention to the stars this week, where you can see two of the brightest planets in the sky come together.
Jupiter and Venus are creating a spectacle in the sky by lining up near each other while being visible to the naked eye.
“If you have a pair of binoculars, you must have a look at this,” said Ken Tapping, an astronomer with the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory in Kaleden.
“You will see Jupiter is a tan colour and you will see its four moons strung all in line like beads on a wire and you will see Venus alongside it like an escaped landing light from an aircraft. They might not be scientifically fascinating but these sights are absolutely beautiful.”
Even though the two planets will appear to be close together, in reality, they will remain 670,130,000 km apart.
“Night by night from Wednesday on, you will see them a little bit farther apart,” said Tapping.
“It’s not a flash encounter, both planets are just going around the Sun. Jupiter is going relatively slowly because it’s a long way away and Venus is going around every 225 days because it’s relatively close. So they will just gradually drift apart.”
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Tapping says the best time to catch it is after sunset when it gets dark and to look toward the southwest. That’s where you will see the two planets shining bright in the sky near one another.
When the pair of planets appear close together on March 1, Venus will be 204,000,000 km from Earth and Jupiter will be 864,000,000 away, according to Gary Boyle, an astronomy educator that works as ‘The Backyard Astronomer’.
“It’s exciting for all astronomers because events like this take people out of their houses and get them away from what I call ‘the three T’s’ — the T.V., the tablet, and the telephone,” said Boyle.
“Seeing Mother Natures’ greatest show is a treat.”
You will even be able to catch the celestial show on your camera to save the memory until the next time that we will see a Venus-Jupiter Conjunction in 2040.
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