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 Feb. 23, 1999: Sky watchers
will be treated to a celestial show tonight, the likes of which
hasn't been seen in 25 years. Venus and Jupiter, the two brightest
planets, will nearly converge in the western sky just after sunset.
The planets will appear to be closest at 19:43 Universal Time
(UT) when Venus passes
approximately one-tenth of a degree from Jupiter. Right: This image by artist Duane Hilton shows the relative positions of Jupiter and Venus in the western sky soon after sunset on Feb. 23, 1999. How does one see the show? "You simply can't miss it," says NASA astronomer Dr. Tony Phillips. "Just after sunset go outside and look west-southwest, not far above the horizon. The planets look just like two closely-spaced, very bright stars. Even city-dwellers have a chance to see them. They're so bright that they should be visible despite urban light pollution." The brighter of the two planets is Venus. It is 11 times smaller than Jupiter, but Venus is much closer to the sun and, thus, reflects more sunlight than the distant gas giant.  The event should be spectacular
viewed through a telescope, with binoculars, or simply seen with
the naked eye. At closest approach both planets will easily fit
inside a telescope's low power field of view. Venus will appear
to be about one-third the size of Jupiter and will resemble a
tiny gibbous Moon. Jupiter's four largest moons, Io, Europa,
Ganymede, and Callisto, should also be visible through a telescope
or good binoculars. Europa, Callisto and Io will be the three
moons to the west of Jupiter's disk, and Ganymede will appear
close to the disk on its eastern side. |
| When two planets pass close together in the sky, the event is called a conjunction. Although Venus and Jupiter will appear very close to one another in the sky, there is no danger of a collision. The two planets are very far apart. Venus and Jupiter are approximately 108 million km and 778 million km from the sun, respectively. |
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| After Feb. 23 Jupiter and Venus will drift apart again. Although the pair won't be as close together, they will still present a beautiful spectacle for weeks to come. |
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Planets
Parade at Dusk -- A Sky &Telescope press release about
tonight's conjunction The Nine Planets: Jupiter -- from SEDS The Nine Planets: Venus -- from SEDS The Solar System Photo Gallery -- from the National Space Science Data Center More NASA Space Science News |
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