The first week of November will be an exceptional time for predawn skywatchers
with a beautiful gathering of the two brightest planets, and the waning crescent
Moon will later drop by to join them.
Venus and Jupiter will appear closest together on the mornings of Nov. 4 and
5.
The moment of closest approach will actually come during the early evening
hours of Nov. 4, unfortunately when this dynamic duo is below the horizon for
North America. They'll be separated by just over ½-degree, roughly the apparent
width of the Moon (the width of your fist, held at arm's length roughly corresponds
to 10 degrees).
Generally speaking, at least for the immediate future, conjunctions between
Venus and Jupiter will come in pairs. The first conjunction takes place in the
morning sky, usually followed about 10 months later by another in the evening
sky.
Then 2½ years later, Venus and Jupiter are again in conjunction, again in the
morning sky.
When Venus and Jupiter next get together, it will be in the evening sky late
next summer, at the beginning of the Labor Day holiday weekend.
Future Venus-Jupiter conjunctions
The table below shows future Venus-Jupiter pairings
in the coming decade.
|
Date
|
Visible
in
|
Separation
|
|
Nov. 4, 2004
|
Morning Sky
|
0.6-degrees
|
|
Sep. 2, 2005
|
Evening Sky
|
1.4-degrees
|
|
Feb. 1, 2008
|
Morning Sky
|
0.6-degrees
|
|
Dec. 1, 2008
|
Evening Sky
|
2.0-degrees
|
|
May 11, 2011
|
Morning Sky
|
0.6-degrees
|
|
March 15, 2012
|
Evening Sky
|
3.3-degrees
|
The closest approaches between these two planets come during the morning apparitions.
So although their next conjunction comes about ten months from now, the next
time Venus and Jupiter will appear as close together as they will this week,
won't come until February 2008.
After Nov. 4, Venus and Jupiter will slowly separate, but there will still
be one more eye-catching sight.
On the morning of Nov. 9, those who arise about 45 minutes before sunrise will
be treated to a spectacular sight as Venus, Jupiter and the Moon - the three
brightest objects of the night sky - form a stretched-out triangle, the Moon
appearing closely above Jupiter.
Imagine the astrological significance that the ancients might have ascribed
to a celestial summit meeting such as this!
As a bonus, the 1st-magnitude star Spica and the planet Mars barely miss being
part of this assembly; look for them respectively about 17 and 22 degrees below
the Moon if the sky is clear and dark enough. More on this morning spectacle
in next week's Night Sky Friday.
Basic Sky Guides
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Joe Rao
serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium.
He writes about astronomy for The New York Times and other publications, and
he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News
12 Westchester, New York.
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