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Results tagged “conjunction” from Breaking Orbit

Conjunction Junction

Posted on December 1, 2008 | 0 Comments

[What follows is a guest post from my NG colleague Susan Poulton, who was kind enough to fill in for me while I was enjoying a couple days off for my birthday. Thanks, SP!]

And, but, or—they will all get you pretty far, but to witness one of the best sky shows of 2008, you only need to step outside tonight at sunset.

The entire world (except for those with a midnight sun in Antarctica) will be able to view the conjunction of Jupiter, Venus, and the crescent moon in their closest pass of a week-long journey.

skymap_460.jpg
—Image courtesy Science@NASA.

planets-lineup.jpg

The planets (plus Pluto) in an approximate size, but not distance, comparison
—Image courtesy NASA/Lunar and Planetary Laboratory

The astronomy gods are giving me a pretty nice birthday present this year: a planetary reunion.

On December 1 at 7:36 p.m. ET, Venus and Jupiter will be in conjunction, the astronomical term for "really close together as far as observers on Earth are concerned."

If the skies are clear, stargazers will be able to see the planets shining just two degrees apart, with a partially lit moon sitting three degrees away from Venus.

The same two planets met up once before this year on the morning of February 1. They won't be in conjunction again until May 2011.

Even better from a fun coincidence point of view, for the December reunion the planets will meet in the constellation Sagittarius—my astrological sign.

It's brief and a bit blurry, but here's an animation of what the event should look like:

Of course, being in conjunction has nothing to with the actual distance between the planets.

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The moon
From dwarf planets to hot Jupiters, join NatGeo News space and tech editor Victoria Jaggard in a global discussion about all things extraterrestrial.


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