The planets appeared closest together—an event known as a planetary conjunction
This is set to be the best planetary gathering of the year, simply because it involves three of the brightest objects in the sky after the sun.(ABOVE PICTURES TAKEN BY STEPHEN ABILASH )
As long as you have clear skies in the early part of the evening, this is one astronomical event that's hard to miss.
Jupiter and Venus are particularly bright, partly because both have highly reflective
clouds that completely envelop them, but also because Venus is Earth's closest neighbor while Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system.Venus, the brighter of the two, will be slightly lower left of Jupiter, and when the moon joins the show, it will sit to the upper left of Venus .( sketched by Stephen Abilash)
Venus (VENUS IN LEFT PICTURE)is bright because the planet is covered by sunlight-reflecting clouds (made of carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid).
Jupiter(JUPITER IN RIGHT PICTURE) is cloud-covered, too, and 11 times wider than Venus. Jupiter's clouds (made of ammonia ice, water and sulfur compounds) are somewhat less reflective than Venus' clouds -- but that's not why Jupiter seems dimmer. The real reason is distance. Jupiter lies seven times farther from the Sun than Venus does.
Even though they appear to be very close, in reality, there is still a lot of distance between them. The moon is 1.4 light seconds away, Venus is 8.4 light minutes away and Jupiter is 46 light minutes away .
EVENTS
The next time a so-called planetary occultation with Venus will be visible from North America is on the morning of April 22, 2009.
The next conjunction between Jupiter and Venus is on February 16, 2010, when the pair is just over half a degree apart, or the size of one full moon.
The next visible conjunction will be on the evening of March 14, 2012, but the two planets will appear farther apart in the sky, separated by more than three degrees.
The next time the three will be as close and visible as this week will be Nov. 18, 2052.
Rare Events
Planetary conjunctions are relatively rare events, especially ones involving such a close encounter between Venus and Jupiter.A similarly close conjunction between Venus and Jupiter occurred in June of 2 B.C., and some scholars have connected the event with the Christian nativity story. (MOON AND VENUS IN PICTURE)
According to the Bible, three magi in the East were alerted to the birth of Jesus and led toward Bethlehem by a superbright star—a celestial phenomenon that could be explained by two planets tightly grouped in the sky.
Astronomers say this year's planetary convergence is special because it's occurring at a particularly opportune time of day: in the early evening when nearly everyone worldwide might have a chance to witness it.We are naturally attracted to close pairings of bright objects, and the presence of the slender crescent moon will only add to the beauty and awe of the event."
Smiling sky
The moon is the brightest, closest and smallest of the three and is 384,403 miles away. Venus, the second brightest, closest and smallest, is 70 million miles away. And big Jupiter is 500 million miles away from Earth.( MOON AND JUPITER IN PICTURE).
Jupiter, Venus, and a sliver of a crescent moon will form a spectacular, tight triangle in the early evening sky
INFORMATION
Currently, Japan, China, and India have robotic spacecraft orbiting the moon. The US will join them next year with its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
Nov. 24, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration announced it was taking a significant step toward a new mission to Jupiter. Mission designers say they expect to launch the orbiter, dubbed Juno (Jupiter’s wife), in 2011. The craft should reach the planet by 2016 and orbit the giant gas ball for a year.
Currently, Japan, China, and India have robotic spacecraft orbiting the moon. The US will join them next year with its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
Nov. 24, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration announced it was taking a significant step toward a new mission to Jupiter. Mission designers say they expect to launch the orbiter, dubbed Juno (Jupiter’s wife), in 2011. The craft should reach the planet by 2016 and orbit the giant gas ball for a year.
