The Sun is Bright, Venus is the Right Thing, Jupiter is the Leftmost Thing: An Astronomer’s Story About Two Bright Objects

Go outside and look to the west at the sunset when darkness falls. Diana Hannikainen, who is an editor at Sky & Telescope magazine, says that there is no way that you will miss these two bright lights in the sky. Venus is the right one since it is brighter. Jupiter is the leftmost one.”

This evening is a good time for stargazers to enjoy a show because two of the planets in our solar system are showing off. “NPR’s Michaeleen Doucleff explains.”

MICHAELEEN DOUCLEFF, BYLINE: Last night after dinner, I went outside to take care of our chickens, and I literally gasped. I was like, oh, my gosh, it’s so beautiful. These two bright objects are so close to each other.

DouclEFF: They are the brightest celestial objects besides the moon in the sun. The American Museum of Natural History has an astronomer. She says, right now, Jupiter and Venus are doing a little dance.

The lady is called Winnie Faulkner. 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.

And while you’re looking up, try something new. Don’t forget to think about how extraordinary the universe is. How far away are these planets? How mysterious they are. And how small you are.

MICHELLE SHIOTA: You can look at that sky and think, wow, that’s really big. That’s so much bigger than me. That’s so much bigger than my life and my problems, however real those problems are.

That’s the feeling of awe, Shiota says, which can give us perspective and be humbling. “And it seems to just help us calm down a little bit in a powerful way.”

NPR Programs: The Wee Crowd Reveals A Little Nighttime Kiss During a Sleeping Baby Sleeping Through the Dark Clouds

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Last night, after dinner, I went outside to take care of our chickens. I did not know if I had gasped. Up in the sky were two dazzlingly bright objects close to each other. It was a beautiful, extraordinary sight. I felt a sense of calmness and joy at the same time. I felt what psychologists call awe – an emotion that can 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

Planet–Jupiter Conjunction: The Venus–Jetter “Conjunction” at the Red Planet Solar Nebula

The planets aren’t going to kiss in space. They are more than one billion miles apart. That’s more than four times the distance than we are from the sun.

What is happening is a Venus-Jupiter “conjunction” — that’s what astronomers call it. Venus and Jupiter are both in a position to see the sun. The outer planets move slower than the inner planets. So you get a lot of these like racetrack passes,” she says.

So, as the orbits pass, they’ll appear to be about .5 degrees apart from our earthly vantage point. The two planets will be separated by the length of a pencil-blue circle held up in the sky.

If you don’t show up for the event tonight, you will see it on Thursday night. The two planets will be very close as they continue their dance. Soon, they’ll return to arms length.