In recent days you could notice two other bright dots in the sky in addition to the moon. These are the planets Venus and Jupiter. Tonight – Wednesday – the two planets were briefly closest together.
Venus and Jupiter are the two brightest objects in the sky next to the sun and moon. Venus is the brighter of the two. Tonight they reached a conjunction, or close conjunction, visible between sunset and 8:30 p.m. In addition, viewed from Earth, it seemed as if the two planets will collide, but nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, they are about 700 million kilometers apart.
A conjunction or close conjunction is more common, in each case the planets can be seen above our western horizon in the evening and at night.
Now the planets are gradually starting to move further away from each other. Jupiter will appear behind the sun for the next few months and will not be visible again until sunrise in the summer. Venus will remain visible in the western sky for a long time.
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