Conjunction Junction: Venus and Jupiter Meet Over Pakistan in Skywatching Photo

Venus and Jupiter appear in conjunction over the western horizon of Quetta, Pakistan. CREDIT: Baqir Naqvi / Pakistan Amateur Astronomers Society View full size image

Venus and Jupiter shine together in conjunction over the Pakistan in this magnificent photo taken last month.

The two planets appeared to come closer and closer, and then passed each other on March 13. In the image, Venus shines brightly on the right and Jupiter, much farther away, shines on the left. The two planets came closest to each other at this time, appearing only three degrees apart on the night sky —less than the width of your fist held at arm's length.

Astrophotographer Baqir Naqvi of the Pakistan Amateur Astronomers Society took the photo of the planets shining over the western horizon of Quetta, Pakistan on March 13.

Venus and Jupiter have now finished their celestial meeting and are moving away from our view. Jupiter will sink lower into the horizon during mid-April and become difficult to view.

Venus will still be visible for several weeks in the night sky with a magnitude that is almost at the maximum for Venus — minus 4.4. The lower the magnitude, the brighter the object looks to us from Earth, on this astronomers' brightness scale.

The planet is expected to make a rapid descent below the western horizon sometime in May.

Editor's note: If you have an amazing skywatching photo you'd like to share for a possible story or image gallery, please contact managing editor Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com.

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