Look up as Venus and Jupiter are about to share a kiss

A Photometric View of the Sun: Venus and Jupiter, the Brightest Celestial Objects in the Universe, and Michaeleen Doucleff

This evening, right after sunset, the sky will display something beautiful: the brightest planets Venus and Jupiter will come so close to each that they will almost look like they might touch.

This evening is the perfect time to go outside and look up at the sun, because two of the planets in our solar system are showing off. NPR’s Michaeleen Doucleff explains.

I went outside last night after dinner and took care of our chickens. I was very impressed with the look of it. These two bright objects are so close to each other.

Doucleff: They are the brightest celestial objects besides the moon in the sun. Jackie Faherty is an astronomer at the American Museum of Natural History. She said that Jupiter and Venus are dancing.

JACKIE FAHERTY: There’s something happening here in our sky right now. They’ve been up. They’ve been bright. They’ve been getting closer and closer to each other for the past month.

DOUCLEFF: Try something new while looking up. Pause and focus on how amazing the universe is, how far away these planets are, and how small you are.

Look at that sky and think ‘WOW! “That’s big,” said psychologist Mrs Shiota at Arizona State University. “That’s so much bigger than me. That’s much bigger than my life and my problems. However real those problems are.”

At least one person has said: DOUCL EFF. That’s Michelle Shiota. She’s a psychologist at Arizona State University. She says it’s the feeling of awe that gives us perspective.

A Little Nighttime Kiss from a Little Chef: The Viento and Jupiter Are Going In For A Nighttime Chiss

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I went outside after dinner last night to look after our chickens. And I literally gasped. There were two bright objects in the sky. It was a beautiful, extraordinary sight. I felt calm and joy as I experienced a tingle of joy. I felt awe, a feeling that is said to relieve stress and calm nerves. Who doesn’t need that?

“They’ve been coming in closer and closer for a little nighttime kiss,” says Jackie Faherty, who’s an astronomer at the American Museum of Natural History.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/03/01/1160382060/look-up-venus-and-jupiter-are-going-in-for-a-nighttime-kiss

The Venus-Jupiter “Conjunction” and the Earth’s Distances to the Sun and Back to Arms Length

Of course in space the planets aren’t really going to smooch. It’s actually 400 million miles apart. That’s more than four times the distance than we are from the sun.

What we are seeing is a Venus-Jupiter “conjunction,” that’s what astronomy calls it. “Venus is passing Jupiter as they both orbit the sun,” Faherty explains. The outer planets are slower than the inner planets. So you get a lot of these like racetrack passes,” she says.

They will appear to be about a degree away from our vantage point. That means, the two planets will be separated by the width of a pencil erasure held up at arms’ length in the sky.

Check back on Thursday night if you don’t see the event tonight. The two planets will still seem quite close, continuing their celestial dance. But soon, they’ll go back to arms length.