This weekend, Jupiter and Venus will seem to be virtually touching each other in a unique celestial display. Celestial conjunction happens once a year when two planets seem to be near enough to practically collide, despite the fact that they are millions of kilometers away.
Although this year Jupiter and Venus will seem closer together than normal, they may be seen with binoculars or perhaps even the naked eye. A similar event will not be carried out for 17 years if you miss this one.
Saturn and Mars will form a straight line alongside Jupiter and Venus in addition to the spectacular planetary conjunction. Despite the fact that Venus and Jupiter come within a few hundredths of a second of each other on a regular basis. This near look belies an actual separation of 430 million miles in orbit.
How to watch it
From a high viewing position with a clear eastern horizon, the best time to watch the event in the UK was about 5 am on Saturday. Nevertheless, when the planets move away afterward, it will still be observable on Sunday and the following days. You’ll have an even better look using telescopes, binoculars, or good cameras.
If you look at the sky from Earth, you’ll see something called a “planetary alignment,” in which the orbits of all the planets coincide. These planetary formations are not uncommon, but they’re not frequent either: There were previous alignments in 2016 and 2005, but not until 2020, when all five planets will be visible in the night sky.
It takes time for these alliances to form. Since the end of March, the constellations of Venus, Mars, and Saturn have shared the night sky. When observed from Earth, Mars and Saturn looked smaller than the size of a full moon.
Tiesha loves to share her passion for everything that’s beautiful in this world. Apart from writing on her beauty blog and running her own beauty channel on Youtube, she also enjoys traveling and photography. Tiesha covers various stories on the website.