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Credit & Copyright: Giovanni Tumino
Explanation:
What are those two bright spots?
Planets.
A few days ago, the two brightest planets in the
night sky passed within
a single degree of each other in what is termed a
conjunction.
Visible just after sunset in much of the world,
the two bright spots were
Jupiter (left) and
Venus (right).
The featured image was taken near closest approach from
Cirica,
Sicily,
Italy.
The week before, Venus was rising higher in the
sunset sky to meet the dropping Jupiter.
Now they have
switched places.
Of course, Venus remains much closer to both the
Sun and the Earth than Jupiter --
the apparent closeness between the planets in the sky of
Earth was only
angular.
You can still
see the
popular
pair for an hour or so after sunset this month although they continue to separate,
and
Jupiter continues to set earlier each night.
Jupiter & Venus Conjunction Gallery:
Notable Submissions to APOD
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Jupiter - Venus
Publications with words: Jupiter - Venus
See also: