The night sky has been grabbing people’s attention this month and it is about to become even more interesting Wednesday as two planets appear to collide together.
If you glanced at the western sky under all the recent clear nights this week you may have noticed Venus and Jupiter as bight standouts amongst the stars.
Many viewers on Snap Jax have been posting photos of the two planets which have been moving closer to each other each night.
If you held up your hands as a reference, the gap which began over three fists wide at the start of the month has narrowed by a degree each night.
Soon they will appear to join together Wednesday, March 1, in a conjunction separated by only .52 degrees.
Jupiter will shine at magnitude -2.1 and Venus will be nearly 6 times brighter than it.
Venus will look like a spotlight in the sky since it is closer to Earth while Jupiter is more than four times as distant.
According to Sky and Telescope Magazine, “Jupiter starts the week on top. They pass each other at conjunction on March 1st, when they’ll appear just half a degree apart. Thereafter, Venus is the higher one.”