This is very interesting! Especially to astronomy fans and photographers. Every day this month, about 20 to 45 minutes before sunrise, sky-watchers will get a rare opportunity to watch four worlds - Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter - in the closest planetary grouping yet seen this century.
This, planetary conjunction - astro-lingo for when planets cluster together in the heavens - has provided some impressive sights already. But the early-bird sky show is really culminating this week as they form their tightest grouping yet!
Jupiter, the gas giant and second brightest of the bunch, will glide past Venus on May 10 and 11, making the larger world easy to spot despite it being less than a quarter as bright as the goddess of love. Most impressive is that the two planets will be separated by only 0.5 degrees, which means you could easily cover the starlike pair with just your thumb on an outstretched arm.
Then, on May 12 all four worlds will be clustered within 6 degrees of each other in the dawn sky. That’s equal to the width of 12 full moon disks side by side - quite a pretty sight.
Read more at National Geographic
Categories:
Astronomy
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