Astrophotographers capture rare Jupiter and Mars encounter (photos)

Bushy trees form a low horizon in front of backgound buildings, barely breaching the trees' line. Above, a vast night sky with blue lines connecting light points to show constellations. The outline of a medium sized orange circle captures Mars and Jupiter.

On the mornings surrounding Wednesday, Aug. 14, the orbital motion of the red planet Mars carried it very closely past brilliant, white Jupiter. (Image credit: Chris Vaughan/Starry Night)

On Aug. 14, avid astrophotographers turned their attention to the sky a couple of hours before sunrise and captured a rare planetary "meet-up" between Jupiter and Mars.

It's been over two years since Jupiter and Mars appeared this close together in the night sky and we'll have to wait until 2033 to see such a close encounter unfold again.

With Jupiter shining at magnitude -2.2 and Mars at +0.8, Jupiter outshined Mars by a factor of nearly 16 to 1, but that didn't stop the two from putting on quite the show.

"For a brief moment in time, it presented a fantastic celestial display," photographer Josh Dury told Space.com in an email.

Dury captured this incredible photograph from the summit of Glastonbury Tor, overlooking the Mendips in Somerset, U.K.

a silhouette of a person standing next to a camera and looking at two bright points of light in the sky, the larger brighter one is Jupiter and the smaller redder one is Mars. A long Perseid meteor streaks through the sky to the right. — The conjunction between Jupiter and Mars along with a Perseid meteor to the right. (Image credit: Josh Dury)

"The photograph itself captures the perspective of the alignment alongside a once-in-a-lifetime chance of a Perseid meteor entering the frame," Dury explained.

"It was a shock surprise to find this in my rushes and for me really delivers the magic and beauty of the cosmos with Jupiter and Mars being the two celestial objects that inspired me into the world of astronomy. A pertinent moment for sure," Dury continued.

Astrophysicist Gianluca Masi of the Virtual Telescope Project livestreamed the conjunction from his view over Maciano, Italy and captured this beautifully detailed image of Jupiter and Mars sharing the same spot in a sky filled with stars.

The two planets came as close as within a quarter-of-a-degree, or about 50% of the angular size of the lunar disk.

A star-studded sky with two bright points of light in the center, the bright white one is Jupiter and below to the left is red Mars. — Jupiter shines bright just above Mars in this detailed view from Italy. (Image credit: Gianluca Masi/Virtual Telescope Project)

Lorenzo Di Cola also captured the conjunction over L'Aquila Italy. Both Jupiter and Mars were visible to the naked eye in the constellation Taurus during the cozy meet-up.

city lights shine brightly below but two bright 'lights' in the sky are visible, one brighter - jupiter and one dimmer - mars. — Jupiter and Mars shine brightly over L'Aquila, Italy, on Aug. 14, 2024. (Image credit: Lorenzo Di Cola/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

a series of nine images of jupiter and mars conjunction put together in one composition image shows the two points of light travelling up together through the sky, there are some smaller bright points of light close to Jupiter, these are some of the planet's moons. — Composition image showing Jupiter and Mars rising through the sky. (Image credit: Lorenzo Di Cola/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The photographer also took this amazing composition image made up of nine interval timer photos showing the two planets rising through the sky. Mars and Jupiter are visible in conjunction and if you look carefully you can even see some of Jupiter's moons.

During the conjunction, Ganymede and Callisto were visible next to Jupiter, with Io and Europa situated between Jupiter and Callisto.

In the image below (to enlarge using the button in the top right corner) you can see bright Jupiter on the right and Mars on the very left. Now, focus on Jupiter. To the lower left of the planet, there is a tiny speck of light. This is Ganymede. Toward the upper right of the planet, you can just about make out a trail of three small dots of light. The closest one to Jupiter is Io, then it's Europa and Callisto.

jupiter is the bright dot on the right and mars the bright small dot to the left. — Jupiter and Mars in conjunction, with Jupiter's moons Ganymede, Callisto, Io and Europa visible near the gas giant. (Image credit: Lorenzo Di Cola/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Many people also took to X (formerly Twitter) to share some incredible photos of the planetary meet-up.

Former astronaut Chris Hadfield shared his friend Andrew Yee's photograph of Jupiter and Mars shining over Toronto, Canada.

Meanwhile, astronomer Damian Peach captured the duo during the morning twilight.

"Both planets are very close together with obvious colour difference easily visible to the naked eye. Aldebaran and The Hyades are at right. A striking sight!" Peach wrote in a post on X.

Photographer David Costello really hit the jackpot with this one. Jupiter, Mars and the northern lights were all visible from Wicklow, Ireland!

If you're inspired by these photographs and want to learn more about photographing the night sky, our astrophotography for beginners and top tips for composing astrophotography guides can help. If you want to take an even deeper look at the night sky, be sure to check out our best telescopes roundup.

If you capture a stunning photo or video of the night sky and want to share them with Space.com for a possible story, send images, comments on the view and your location, and usage permissions to spacephotos@space.com.

Daisy Dobrijevic joined Space.com in February 2022 having previously worked for our sister publication All About Space magazine as a staff writer. Before joining us, Daisy completed an editorial internship with the BBC Sky at Night Magazine and worked at the National Space Centre in Leicester, U.K., where she enjoyed communicating space science to the public. In 2021, Daisy completed a PhD in plant physiology and also holds a Master's in Environmental Science, she is currently based in Nottingham, U.K. Daisy is passionate about all things space, with a penchant for solar activity and space weather. She has a strong interest in astrotourism and loves nothing more than a good northern lights chase!