In the morning sky of Saturday April 30, Venus will be less than a quarter of a degree south of Jupiter.
See the end note about enlarging illustrations.
Venus and Jupiter are shining at -4 and -2, in the astronomical magnitude scale (in which the brightest star is -1.4 and the naked-eye limit is about 5 or 6). They are at an elongation of about 40° from the Sun. At the time and American location of this scene, they are just under 10° above the horizon.
Conjunctions of these two brightest of the planets are explored in our book Venus, a Longer View, starting on page 82, with tables of dates, and illustrations of the rarer triple conjunctions.
To put it briefly, Venus passes Jupiter almost every year (in 61 out of 62 years), but the intervals can rang from 10 to 15 months. The last conjunction was 2021 Feb. 11, likewise in the morning sky, only 11° from the Sun. The next will be 2023 March 2, 31° out in the evening sky.
Because of Jupiter’s almost exactly 12-year orbit, and Venus’s celebrated almost exactly 8-year cycle, there is a 24-year approximate harmony, so that there was a similar Venus-Jupiter conjunction on 1998 April 23. Eric David pointed out that this would also have happened in 1974, “first year of your Astronomical Calendar, one of the few that I don’t have in my collection.” But that was a simple little book, I knew nothing of these mathematical patterns, and all Eric would find would be a line for April 15: “Venus and Jupiter at conjunction (2 UT = 9 om EST); Venus 1.1° N of Jupiter.” I did give the entry an asterisk for importance, and showed a line for it across the solar-system diagram on the facing page.
The 2022 event is part of what we might call an event-complex, because most of the other planets happen to be in the same general direction as seen from Earth.
Space view of the planets’ travels in April and May, with sightlines from Earth to them at April 30. The four inner planets are exaggerated 300 times in size, Jupiter 50 times, the Sun 4 times. The dashed line is the vernal equinox direction.
And past them all comes cruising the Old Moon, that is, the Moon swinging down to pass between us and the Sun.
Here is a timetable (with times in Universal Time, corresponding to 4 or more hours earlier in North American time zones):
Apr 27 Wed 9 Moon, Venus, and Jupiter within circle of diameter 4.12°
Apr 27 Wed 9 Moon, Jupiter, and Neptune within circle of diameter 3.88°
Apr 27 Wed 12 Moon 3.3° SE of Jupiter
Apr 27 Wed 20 Venus 0.02° N of Neptune
Apr 27 Wed 21 Venus, Jupiter, and Neptune within circle of diameter 2.86°
Apr 30 SAT 20:30 New Moon; partial eclipse of the Sun
Apr 30 SAT 22 Venus 0.23° SE of Jupiter
The “within circle” events are what we call trios, when groupings of bodies are at their tightest.
The solar eclipse will be seen in the southern Pacific and southern South America. Here is our picture of the shadow passing across the Earth, from Astronomical Calendar 2022.
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ILLUSTRATIONS in these posts are made with precision but have to be inserted in another format. You may be able to enlarge them on your monitor. One way: right-click, and choose “View image” or “Open image in new tabV, then enlarge. Or choose “Copy image”, then put it on your desktop, then open it. On an iPad or phone, use the finger gesture that enlarges (spreading with two fingers, or tapping and dragging with three fingers). Other methods have been suggested, such as dragging the image to the desktop and opening it in other ways.
My father told me that they learned a similar thing in German schools ~ the German word for a waning Moon is “abnehmend” and waxing is “zunehmend” ~ the capital letter A written in cursive has the semicircle part on the left side of the letter just like the illuminated part of a waning Moon, whereas the capital letter Z written in cursive has the semicircle on the right side, like the illuminated part of the waxing crescent Moon.
During the waxing crescent phase the bright part of the Moon gets bigger. During the waning crescent phase the dark part of the Moon gets bigger.
Hah!
I have never experienced drowsiness after using balsamic vinegar, and there’s no warning printed on my bottle. ;-)
A house that grows with the growth of the family? Neat trick!
I learned the etymology of “crescent” from you. Previously I would have defined “crescent” as a noun, a curved shape with one side convex and the other side concave, or an adjective describing something with that shape. I think that’s now the most commonly understood meaning. Knowing that “crescent” is originally the present participle of the verb “to grow or increase” makes the word feel richer and more dynamic.
In astrology, a decrescent Moon is called “balsamic”. I just went down a couple of interesting internet rabbit holes trying to learn why. Balsam is used as a soporific, and this phase of the Moon is seen as a time to rest before the next lunar cycle begins with the new Moon.
Richer and richer. Is balsamic vinegar also soporific?
While I was writing my Spiral Library booklet, I saw (and mentioned in a footnote) an Italian architectural project that was a bit of a precedent, and was described as “Una Casa che Cresce col Crescere della Famiglia”.
Love the discussion of the harmonies between the planets’ orbits! I find that paying careful attention to their movements, as Anthony described, makes you more aware of interesting little asterisms that are fun to observe in their own right, such as the small arc of three stars north of Deneb Algedi (delta Cap), through which planets often pass. From central Virginia, this morning’s scene, as well as our view of Mercury near the Pleiades last night, is on the pages accessible by clicking on the top three pictures for my April page:
http://www.starvergnuegen.com/astropix/2022/2022_04_apr_index.html
Indeed. That’s how we were taught the phases of the moon at school. It was COD: C for the ‘crescere’ or waxing phase; then the full moon; and then D for the ‘decrescere’ or waning phase.
Fortunately I’m able to see the dance of the dawn planets from my back porch. I wake up early, so I just look out the window to see if the sky is cloudy or clear and either get dressed and go outside, or go back to bed to finish dreaming. We’ve been having a pleasant alternation of clear skies with brief and very welcome rainstorms. I’ve been enjoying watching how quickly or slowly the different planets move relative to the horizon and the background stars. Saturn barely creeping eastward north of Deneb Algedi, Mars marching along deliberately, both Saturn and Mars rising earlier and climbing higher into the sky, Venus rushing toward the horizon and Jupiter, and Jupiter blossoming into the dawn sky. This morning Venus, Jupiter, and the earthlit waning crescent* Moon were a lovely triangle. Such a treat.
* Guy would call the Moon decrescent.
I did use the word “decrescent” in the first draft, but decided that that would need a phrase of explanation, which should be saved for times when the Moon is the main topic. Latin crescere, to grow, increase.