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On Wednesday ( March 1 ) and Thursday ( March 2 ) , two bright planets will appear as if they were about to jar in the dark sky .
Jupiter , the largest planet in thesolar system of rules , andVenus , one of the brightest objects in Earth ’s sky , will come within about half a degree of each other — or roughly one full moon ’s breadth aside . For workweek , the two bodies have been inching nearer together , building toward a phenomenon call a colligation , which occurs whenever two object in the sky — such as moons , planet or principal — come out exceptionally close together .
A planetary conjunction alongside a crescent moon
This phenomenon is , of row , a antic of perspective . The two bright planets are in fact millions of miles aside ; only from our point of persuasion on Earth do they seem to abut against each other . Thanks to the orbital patterns of Earth , Jupiter and Venus , co-occurrence like this occur once every year or so .
— Scientists find remains of cannibalized baby major planet in Jupiter ’s venter
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You wo n’t ask a telescope or binoculars to see the two bright planets . Simply look to the west after sundown , and the two canoodling objects should be patent to the naked heart . They will look like exceptionally undimmed stars ; Jupiter will glow doubly as bright as Sirius , the brightest star in the sky , while Venus will blaze six times shining than Jupiter , harmonise to Live Science ’s baby siteSpace.com .
However , skywatchers who do view the planets through a pair of binoculars may have the bonus of visualize three of Jupiter ’s large moons : Io , Ganymede and Callisto . If you want to pick up a pair of opera glasses to see the conjunction more distinctly , check out our template to thebest binoculars for stargazingfor our recommendation .
The two planets will be separate a bit too widely to appear in the same field of view of a telescope , accord toIn-The-Sky.org .
If you ca n’t catch this spectacle in the sky , you could watch a livestream of the conjunction , as seen from Rome , good manners of theVirtual Telescope Project . The stream begin at 1:30 p.m. EST ( 1830 GMT ) on March 1 .
