On Tuesday, June 30, there will be a conjunction of Jupiter and Venus. A conjunction is a celestial event in which two planets or a planet and the moon or a planet and a star appear close together in the night sky. Conjunctions have no real astronomical value, but they are nice to view. While conjunctions aren’t as rare as one might think, this conjunction of Jupiter and Venus will be more impressive than most.
The casual backyard observer may have noticed that these two planets have been moving closer together for the past few weeks. On June 30, they will be so close that one will be able to hold a finger up and cover both Jupiter and Venus at the same time. In reality, the planets are hundreds of millions of miles apart. On June 30, Venus is about 46 million miles from Earth, and Jupiter is 560 million miles from Earth. Looking up at the sky, Venus appears to be much brighter than Jupiter. That is only because Venus is so much closer to Earth. Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, is actually over 11 times bigger than Venus, but it is dimmer when looking at the sky because of its great distance from our planet.
Typically the best conditions for stargazing involve a dark sky, so getting away from urban areas will make stars and faint objects like nebulae and galaxies more visible. The Jupiter and Venus conjunction will be easily bright enough to see from any location, even large cities. The best hours for viewing will be during evening twilight and up until 10:30 PM local time, when the planets will set behind the western horizon.
Enjoyed the talk on conjunction of Venus and Jupiter ‘collide” for June 30, 2015! Thanks
Thank you for such a useful and graphic with good common sense website dictating how to tell us earthlings these wonderful celestial events. I love your maps. Your work validates what our “work” can be inspired from!
I’m wondering what he meant by “10:30 PM local time”. Where is that ‘local time’?
Thanks for the info! Noticed this about a week ago and was wondering what the heck. So beautiful, just got a telescope for the first time and i’m having fun. It’s know wonder people get addicted to all the beautiful wonders of space. Thanks!!! Joe Cseh
10:30 local to whom?
Cloud coverage tonight! So disappointed I won’t be able to see it. Will you have a live feed showing it? Thanks!
can we see this on 1 of july
Yes I had seen Guru Shukra conjunction Marvoulus! this position was seen from 28th June 7 I has been seen everyday I like watching Venus Gupitor & Saturn position I had seen Marcury last year evening
This is beautiful !!!
Hi ! I used the “hold a finger up and cover both Jupiter and Venus at the same time” trick, worked like a charm ! Felt like magic 😀 . Thanks for the great article !
I am Aditya Kumar from India, Delhi , very much fond of universe exploration my last project assignment was on mars, in 2006. Although i am non- science student graduate , working as on profile of graphics designer in social media company ,but the positivity of my duty makes me attract towards sky more and more, as i look forward up at the sky , since childhood i do have a personal intrest in NASA’s different social Activities what ever news released publicly i always watch , most impressive one was that thing when mars open view through naked eyes came in news , then what i did i went to my house top roof , did some of the arrangements specifically , to watch that whole scene and it was looked beautiful i can explain throughs grapic and animation, so this was my personal attachment to NASA and universe always try to explore a things of new world, if you feel any guidance to provide me , i would be honor, you can also have on my number, Jupiter and Venus Conjunction are my one of the favorite topics even call:-
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Awesome. I noticed!
How often does a Jupiter-Venus conjunction happen? When can we see the next one? I’m seeing a lot of conflicting dates online.
I’ve read that this happened 2000 years ago, I wonder if it’s true. What about happening together with the Full moon right now in the opposite direction to the east?
I have seen, it was marvelous masha’ALLAH
Spanish please 😉
YES.
I saw this wonderful event !!!!!!!