08 June 2015

Venus and Jupiter Conjunction on July 1st



In the western evening sky we have 2 bright objects, one closer to horizon is Planet Venus and next is Planet Jupiter. As we are observing from past couple of weeks, we have noticed something curious, Venus and Jupiter are getting closer to each other.



These two planets appear getting close to each other, this is as seen from earth, the fact is Venus, the brightest planet in the sky and Jupiter the largest planet in the solar system are 0.5AU and 6AU respectively from earth (1 Astronomical Unit =14,95,97,871 km).  

We will continue to track these planets in coming days and we will notice that the separation will get even smaller. The separation of these planets as seen from earth is measured in angles.

In the middle of June the separation between Venus and Jupiter will be 14 degrees and on 20th the separation will be reduced to 6 degrees.




Minimum separation between Venus and Jupiter will happen on July 1st with a separation of 24 minutes, close enough to fit both planets in field of view of telescope. Venus and Jupiter will set at 9:30pm on 1st July.