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Conjunction of Venus and Jupiter: what it is, at what time and how to see it

2023-03-01T21:16:30.660Z


Venus and Jupiter will approach each other on Wednesday night, when the two planets are ready to cross in what is known as a conjunction.


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(CNN) --

Jupiter and Venus will approach each other on Wednesday night, when the two planets are ready to pass in what is known as a conjunction.

Jupiter will appear to move to the west, while Venus will appear to move slowly in the other direction, NASA said.

Conjunctions between planets occur frequently because celestial bodies orbit the Sun in roughly the same plane as each other and trace similar paths across our sky.

NASA said the two planets would appear in the western sky above the horizon around 6:58 pm ET, when evening twilight ends over the US East Coast.

At their closest, they are expected to be only half a degree apart, about the diameter of a full moon, said Robert Massey, deputy chief executive of the Royal Astronomical Society in the UK.

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The best time to detect the conjunction of Jupiter and Venus in the US will be during the afternoon on Wednesday, but the two planets will still appear together in the night sky on Thursday, he added.

The conjunction will be visible to the naked eye.

The conjunctions have no particular astronomical significance, but they are an amazing sight to behold.

After the Moon, Jupiter and Venus are currently the brightest objects in the sky, according to Gianluca Masi, an astronomer at the Bellatrix Astronomical Observatory in Italy and director of the Virtual Telescope Project.

He has organized a live broadcast to see "the kiss between Venus and Jupiter".

Here are the rest of the major sky events of 2023, so you can have your binoculars and telescope at the ready.

full moons

The Full Stag Moon, also known as a “Thunder Moon” passes behind Hudson Yards and the Empire State Building as it rises in New York City on July 23, 2021, as seen from Lyndhurst, New Jersey.

The next full moon will occur on Tuesday, March 7, and that night, Venus, Jupiter and Mars will also be visible in the night sky, NASA said.

It is sometimes known as the raven moon, bark, sap, sugar, or worm.

Here are the other remaining full moons for 2023, according to the Farmer's Almanac:

April 6: Pink Moon

May 5: flower moon

June 3: Strawberry Moon

July 3: thunder moon

August 1: Sturgeon Moon

August 30: Blue Moon

September 29: Harvest Moon

October 28: Hunter's Moon

November 27: Beaver Moon

December 26: cold moon

While these are the popularized names associated with the monthly full moon, each has its own meaning in Native American tribes (and many go by different names as well).

There will be two solar eclipses and two lunar eclipses in 2023

There will be two solar eclipses and two lunar eclipses in 2023.

A total solar eclipse will occur on April 20, visible to those in Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, and Antarctica.

This type of event occurs when the Moon moves between the Sun and the Earth, blocking the Sun.

And for some skywatchers in Indonesia, parts of Australia, and Papua New Guinea, it will be a hybrid solar eclipse.

The curvature of Earth's surface can cause some eclipses to switch between total and annular as the Moon's shadow moves across the globe, according to NASA.

Like a total solar eclipse, the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth during an annular eclipse, but it occurs when the Moon is at or near its farthest point from Earth, according to NASA.

This makes the Moon appear smaller than the Sun, so it doesn't completely block our star and creates a bright ring around the Moon.

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On October 14, an annular solar eclipse will sweep across the Western Hemisphere and be visible across the entire American continent.

Be sure to wear proper glasses to safely view solar eclipses, as sunlight can damage your eyes.

A penumbral lunar eclipse will occur on May 5 for those in Africa, Asia, and Australia.

This less dramatic version of a lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves through the penumbra, or the dim outer part of Earth's shadow.

A partial lunar eclipse of the hunter's moon on October 28 will be visible to those in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, parts of North America, and much of South America.

Partial eclipses occur when the Sun, Earth, and Moon don't completely line up, so only part of the Moon goes into shadow.

meteor showers

Mark your calendar with the dates of the meteor showers that you will be able to in 2023:

Lyrids

: April 22-23

Eta Aquarids

: May 5-6

South Delta Aquarids

: July 30-31

Alpha Capricorns

: July 30-31

Perseids

: August 12–13

Orionids

: October 20-21

Southern Taurids

: November 4-5

Northern Taurids

: November 11-12

Leonidas

: November 17-18

Geminids

: December 13-14

Ursids

: December 21-22

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2023-03-01

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