Venus and Jupiter “kiss” each other

It’s been noticeable in the western sky for a few days now: the two bright points of light that appear close together just after sunset. They are the planets Jupiter and Venus, which are very close to each other and will move even closer together in the coming days.

That they are so close together is quite rare, according to astronomer Theo Jurriens of the University of Groningen. Only in 2040 will the planets approach each other again at such a relatively close distance.

“We see the planets on an imaginary celestial sphere, so to speak. So it seems that they are very close to each other. But that is of course fake, because in reality they are hundreds of millions of kilometers apart,” says Jurriens, who speaks of optical illusion.

He compares it to a photo perspective. “Imagine: you are standing on the Groningen Wadden coast and in the distance you see a lighthouse on one of the islands. If someone then takes a photo of you with the lighthouse in the background, it seems that the lighthouse is very close to you. But In reality, of course, that’s not the case.”

Jupiter and Venus are most visible in the early evening, between sunset and about 8:30 p.m. After that, the planets set and are no longer visible. “The nice thing is that you have been able to follow the movement towards each other well in recent weeks. Tomorrow is the closest approach. Then they move away from each other again and that can also be followed well for another week or two.”

It is also special that the planets are clearly visible from large cities. Jurriens: “Because they are so bright, they don’t need a dark spot to see them properly”. Until March 1, Jupiter is the upper planet and Venus the lower. From March 2, when they move away from each other, it’s the other way around.

During the conjunction, on March 1, the planets are so close together that it looks like a double star in the sky. Possibly this is the same phenomenon that at the beginning of the era was thought to be the poinsettia announcing the birth of Jesus.

The fact that the planets can be seen so well also has to do with the clear nights of the past few days. There are also few to no clouds expected for the coming nights. After Wednesday, the clouds are likely to increase.

By the way, Venus and Jupiter are not the only phenomenon in the sky at the moment. For two days now, the Netherlands has also been under the spell of another special natural phenomenon, the northern lights. That too can probably still be observed in the coming nights.

Jupiter and Venus (bottom, close to the horizon) meet the Northern Lights: