MADRID, 1 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
During the last few days, the planets Venus and Jupiter have begun to approach each other from the point of view of the Earth, reaching its closest approach this Wednesday March 1st.
About 45 minutes after sunset, looking toward the western sky near the horizon, the two planets will be seen as the two brightest points in the sky. Venus will be brighter than Jupiter: it is the third brightest celestial body in the sky, after the Sun and the Moon, reports NASA.
At the same time, Venus and Jupiter will also reach conjunction, which is when the planets share the same right ascension (an angular distance used to locate celestial bodies in the night sky). Such proximity of planets is an optical illusion: in reality, they are very far from each other, more than 900 million kilometers, so there is no possibility that they will literally collide. But their orbits will make them look like they could from the point of view of sky watchers here on Earth.
Both planets will be only half a degree apart, according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. That means they’ll be close enough to be within the field of view of binoculars, and maybe even some low-powered telescopes.