As Venus and Jupiter dance in the night sky, it’s a sight to behold

Tonight is the perfect night. Venus and Jupiter are doing a little dancing, but what is happening in the sky when you’re looking up?

It’s going to be much better to experience this awe tonight. I’ve decided to take my entire family outside to feel this warm and amazing feeling after sunset. Because these two bright objects – the planets Venus and Jupiter – will be even closer.

For many stargazers, this evening is a great time to go outside and experience the emotion known as awe because two of our solar system’s planets are putting on a spectacular show right now. Michaeleen is with NPR.

MICHAELEEN DOUCLEFF, BYLINE: Last night after dinner, I went outside to take care of our chickens, and I literally gasped. I was in awe of the beauty of it. Two objects are 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 says, right now, Jupiter and Venus are doing a little dance.

JACKIE FAHERTY: Something is happening in the 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 when you are looking up. Pause and focus on how extraordinary the universe is, how far away these planets are, how mysterious they are and how small you are.

Think about that sky and think wow! That is large, says the psychologist at Arizona State University. “That’s so much bigger than me. That’s so much bigger than my life and my problems. However real those problems are.”

Shiota says that feeling of awe can give us perspective. “And it seems to just help us calm down a little bit in a powerful way.”

A Nighttime Kiss with the Birds and the Jupiter Are Going In for a Nighttime Kidss: NPR’s Contribution to Natural History

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I went outside after dinner to take care of the chickens. And I literally gasped. Two very bright objects were up in the sky. It was a beautiful sight. I felt a tingle of joy and a moment of calm. It’s an emotion that can relieve stress and calm nerves. Who doesn’t need that?

“They’ve been close enough for a kiss to happen at night,” says Jackie, 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 Mercury-Jupiter Conjunction: An Astronomical Look at the Naked-Eye Observational System

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

A Venus-Jupiter “conjunction” is what the astronomer call it. “Venus is passing Jupiter as they both orbit the sun,” Faherty explains. “The inner planets move a lot faster than the outer planets. She says that you get a lot of racetrack passes.

So, as the orbits pass, they’ll appear to be about .5 degrees apart from our earthly 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.

If you miss the event tonight, check back on Thursday night. The two planets are very close. Soon, they’ll go back to their previous lengths.

One alignment in June was the first in a long time. The event included all five planets that can typically be seen with the naked eye — Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

Alignments such as this one appear every few years or so, Hummels said, and much of it will be visible to the naked eye, even in urban areas with significant light pollution. And it can be spotted across the Northern and Southern hemispheres.

The arrangement will be visible just underneath the crescent moon. Hummels suggested that you see the display if you were able to see the western horizon just after the sun sets, because the sky has turned blue but not yet black. Hummels said that people living far to the north should gaze southwest, while those in the southern hemisphere should look northwest.

Topping off the planetary parade will be Mars, sitting in a straight line up from Jupiter, Mercury, Venus, Uranus and the moon. Hummels said it is easy to pick out due to its signature orange tint.

How many degrees is the sky? A survey of Hummels’ observations of planetary and other celestial alignments in the next 100 years

The entire alignment will cover 70 degrees of the sky. Hummels said it’s a good idea to use a closed fist or thumb to measure degrees in the sky. A fist at arm’s length will cover about 10 degrees, while a thumb covers about 1 degree.

There is a chance of seeing a planetary alignment in the future, but it’s not as likely as it would be to see planets in a small patch of the sky.

“It’s kind of like when your car’s odometer shows a bunch of numbers — like it reaches 44,444,” he said. “It’s cool and unusual. It just doesn’t mean anything.

Fascinating celestial phenomena often decorate the night sky, he added, such as when Jupiter and Venus appeared within half a degree of each other this month.

Sky watchers can expect to see a total eclipse on October 14. And, in April 2024, a total solar eclipse will blot out the sun midday for many in the United States.