BellaOnline Forums Education Astronomy Venus and Jupiter share the sky

Venus has been around the other side of the Sun, so not visible in our skies for awhile. (I'm not sure for how long, because we've had so many clouds and so much rain, I've scarcely seen anything in the sky recently.) But there could be some beautiful sights coming our way. Jupiter is still bright, though not as bright as Venus in her glory - and they're moving closer together in the sky. On May 28, there will be a close conjunction. So, given clear skies, we should also be able to see several nights with two bright planets in the field of view.

I didn't mention that there was a bonus here, but Mercury will also be involved if you catch after sunset. Today (May 19) Mercury may be visible just to the lower right of Venus. (Venus will be the brightest one.) On May 26 all three planets are close enough together that they would fit in a 2.5 degree circle.

Here is a diagram from Sky & Telescope showing what you might see on May 24.

45 minutes after dusk on May 24

Don't be surprised if you can't see the star Elnath (2nd brightest in Taurus the Bull) when you look up. You'd probably need binculars.

Here's a little video that shows the planets each night from May 20 to June 20. (If only the sky would clear!)

Planets May 20 - June 20, 2013

Last year you could see Venus & Jupiter in conjunction (seeming close together in the sky) before dawn. Here is a picture taken in June near Buenos Aires: Beautiful pre-dawn sky

Wow! Lots of pictures coming in of the triple conjunction of Venus, Jupiter and Mercury. I'm hoping we might see it tonight, as (so far!) the sky is clear.

Here's a great picture taken in Las Vegas yesterday, getting a good view of all three planets:

Triple Conjunction

I've been photographing the alignments several nights; two nights ago they formed a "planet sandwich" :), Jupiter close to horizon, Venus in the middle and Mercury above Venus. This is the first time I have seen Mercury above another planet, and farther away from the horizon than usual!

That's great, Firefly. Do you take a lot of sky pictures?

We finally got some clear weather and I realized we couldn't see the planets anyhow. Being fairly low in the sky, by the time the Sun got around to setting here, they weren't visible. Sigh.

I enjoy astrophotography a lot! Got rid of my telescopes, have deep sky binocs and love naked eye gazing the best. Excellent dark skies where I live and love seeing what else shows up in pics (unexpected meteors). People have got to seize the moment with stargazing! I enjoy taking pics of ISS passes when they are very bright but haven't gotten any of Hubble yet. My challenge this year is to get a pic of the Full Moon rising with the fireflies blinking but so far unsuccessful