They are actually several million kilometers apart, but if you look up after sunset these days, you will see the planets Jupiter and Venus twinkling as bright points very close together. An encounter that only happens about once every two years.
Anyone observing the clear night sky these days will see two bright points twinkling in close unison in the southwest. After sunset, Jupiter and Venus are on a cozy course for our eyes. A deceptive togetherness, since the two planets in our solar system are hundreds of millions of kilometers apart.
“Jupiter and Venus have come closer and closer in the past few weeks and days,” said the chairman of the Association of Star Friends, Sven Melchert. On their orbits around the sun at different speeds, they have come closest to each other these days and then move away from each other again.
The supposed rendezvous of the gas giant Jupiter in the outer solar system and our neighbor Venus in the inner solar system is only an optical impression. Venus is currently a good 200 million kilometers from Earth, the largest planet Jupiter is more than 860 million according to star friends. From now on, the distance between the two celestial bodies will increase again.
On March 23, the crescent of the waxing moon will be in the sky between the two. “Such encounters between Jupiter and Venus are easy to see about every two years,” said Melchert. The next will culminate on August 12, 2025, but then in the morning sky.
