A good thing to keep in mind, as NORAD is currently chasing spurious balloons across North American skies. Hey, astronomy can save lives… or at least, avert a super-power confrontation. The true culprits were-you guessed it-Venus and Jupiter during a particularly fine conjunction. For instance, in 2013 Indian Army guards along the nation’s border with China suspected that two bright lights seen night after night were actually Chinese spy drones with nefarious intent. When it comes the sky-watching, knowledge of planetary conjunctions can also have geopolitical significance. The Muslim calendar, which strictly follows the lunar cycle, also sees the start of Ramadan 2023, beginning with the next lunation and the expected first sighting of the slim crescent Moon on March 22 nd. Credit: Stellarium.Īnd speaking of the Moon, this lunation sets us up for the start of the Roman Catholic season of Lent this week, with the Paschal Full Moon falling on the lunation after next on April 6 th, and Easter 2023 falling on the following Sunday on April 9th. Earth meets Venus… as seen from Jupiter on March 1st. Looking back from Jupiter, you’d see Earth and Venus in a close 25’ embrace, with the +4.6 magnitude Moon thrown in. Of course, gas giant Jupiter is much larger than Venus… but it’s also over four times farther away, at 5.77 Astronomical Units (AU) or over 537 million miles (1.18 billion kilometers) distant. Now, for the wow! factor of what you’re seeing: Venus is an apparent disk 12” across and 86% illuminated during the pass, while Jupiter is 34” across. Venus and Jupiter are 31 degrees east of the Sun at closest approach on next week, placed well in the dusk. The two planets won’t be closer until May 23 rd, 2024. The March 1 st conjunction is the closest for Venus and Jupiter since April 30 th, 2022. Credit: Gianluca Masi/The Virtual Telescope Project. Though the conjunction is one of the best naked eye planet versus planet conjunctions for 2023, it isn’t the closest overall that award goes to last week’s rare Venus-Neptune conjunction, when the two were just 42” apart. The two will be close enough to easily fit in a low power field of view, though (mainly Venus) is really truckin’, moving an apparent distance of one full degree from just one evening before and after. This leads up to the big event on Wednesday March 1 st, as Jupiter passes just 29’ (about one Full Moon diameter) from Venus at 5:00 Universal Time (UT) on March 2 nd. These close passes also offer a rare chance to spot -3.9 magnitude Venus (and perhaps, even -2.1 magnitude Jupiter) in the daytime, using the nearby waxing crescent Moon as a guidepost. The Moon also occults Venus on March 24 th, and again later this year on November 9 th. The occultation footprint for the February 22nd event. The final event occurs on May 17 th and could be an interesting one for the southwestern United States and Mexico at dawn. the next two dates are March 22 nd and April 19 th, though Jove will also be close to the Sun around this time, as it reaches solar conjunction on April 11 th. The Moon occults Jupiter four times in 2023. The lineup of the Moon, Venus and Jupiter on the evening of February 22nd looking west.
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