Jupiter and Venus 'kiss' in a stunning planetary conjunction tonight. Here's how to watch.

Live Science ^ | February 28th, 2023 | Brandon Specktor

[shadowlands1960]

On March 1 and 2, Jupiter and Venus will appear side by side in the night sky in an event called a conjunction, which is visible without a telescope or binoculars. On Wednesday (March 1) and Thursday (March 2), two bright planets will appear as if they were about to collide in the night sky.

Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, and Venus, one of the brightest objects in Earth's sky, will come within about half a degree of each other — or roughly one full moon's width apart. For weeks, the two bodies have been inching closer together, building toward a phenomenon called a conjunction, which occurs whenever two objects in the sky — such as moons, planets or stars — appear exceptionally close together.

This phenomenon is, of course, a trick of perspective. The two bright planets are in fact millions of miles apart; only from our point of view on Earth do they appear to butt against each other. Thanks to the orbital patterns of Earth, Jupiter and Venus, conjunctions like this occur once every year or so.

[shadowlands1960]

Conjunction

[AJFavish]

That’s hot.

[larrytown]

Hot itchy eyes?

[COBOL2Java]

[sonova]

Whats your function?

[dfwgator]

She’s got it
Yeah baby she’s got it

Well, I’m your Venus
I’m your fire
At your desire

[katana]

This would have caused a stir in ancient Rome. Julius Caesar’s family, the Julians, were legendarily direct descendants of the goddess Venus. Romans would be thinking about what might come from her pairing with Jupiter.

[BitWielder1]

"Inching"? Lol, we're talking millions of miles.

[shadowlands1960]

Good catch... it would have caused a stir in the Julian household.

[Verginius Rufus]

Well, 63,360 inches in a mile. So 63,360 times maybe 400 million inches.

[telescope115]

I saw them closing last weekend. It’s gonna be cloudy here tonight and tomorrow night, darnit…

[telescope115]

Nice screenshot. It’s just about the only way I’m gonna see it.

[AnAmericanMother]

“Are they going to have a collision?” he asked in an awestruck voice.

“Nay, dear Prince,” said the Doctor (and he too spoke in a whisper). “The great lords of the upper sky know the steps of their dance too well for that. Look well upon them. Their meeting is fortunate and means some great good for the sad realm of Narnia. Tarva, the Lord of Victory, salutes Alambil, the Lady of Peace. They are just coming to their nearest.”

[KarlInOhio]

The best I’ve seen recently was the Jupiter Saturn conjunction in 2020. You did need binoculars (or at least better eyes than I have) to separate them.

[dznutz]

Hooking up two boxcars and makin em run right.

[metmom]

Yes, it would be worth watching ……

If it were clear.

😠

[Chgogal]

Bookmark.

[Political Junkie Too]

I posted this two days ago:

---

Note Jupiter & Venus are next to each other...

...sitting in a tree...

---

-PJ

[If You Want It Fixed - Fix It]

And I blot them both out with my finger!

[Paul R.]

A few nights ago, we had a nice clear night with Venus’ angle to Jupiter closing, and Mars similarly “close” to the Moon. Although the 2 pairs were widely separated, ~70 degrees, maybe? — it was still a nice view. :-)