You’ve been watching Venus climb toward Jupiter in the evening sky.
These two brightest planets will be closest – half a degree apart – on March 2 at 6 Universal Time, so the evening nearest to that moment is March 1.
The planets will be 31° from the Sun. Their magnitudes are -4 and -2, which means that Venus is sending us somewhat more than 6 times as much light as Jupiter.
Our sky scene is from page 82 of Venus: a Longer View, in which six pages are devoted to Venus’s conjunctions with other planets, four of them to Venus-Jupiter conjunctions. Here is the space view showing how the conjunction comes about.
Venus-Jupiter conjunctions occur almost every year. The previous and next ones are 2022 Apr. 30 and 2024 May 23. Both are closer than the current one, but are in the morning sky, the 2024 one only 3° from the Sun. The current conjunction is one of the few that are close, bright, and in the evening sky.
There is a similarity between Venus-Jupiter conjunctions that occur about 24 years apart, because that is 3 of Venus’s well-known 8-year cycles and roughly 2 of Jupiter’s almost-12-year orbital periods. So a similar conjunction on 1999 Feb. 23 was shown in my Astronomical Calendar 1999, as Eric David has reminded me by sending me this photo of it.
There were differences, because this 24-year harmony is not exact. The 1999 conjunction was closer (0.15°), and 28° from the Sun, which happened to put it almost exactly at the vernal equinox point, where the ecliptic crosses the celestial equator and where the Sun will be on March 20.
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We got an excellent view of Venus and Jupiter last night from Sydney, with the evening sky beautifully clear.
I would have sent you a picture of your sky chart for the Venus-Jupiter conjunction 24 years before the 1999 event, except that I have never been able to find a used copy of your 1975 Astronomical Calendar! Meanwhile, 48 years after your second annual AC, we have beautifully clear skies this Feb 28th to see the planets about a degree apart. Unfortunately, the weather forecast calls for clouds and rain tomorrow evening, so I’ll have to make the most of tonight’s opportunity.
Astronomical Calendar 1975 will become available. Watch out – it may take a few weeks – fora n announcement about “back issues”.
It’s certainly been entertaining watching the two gradually getting closer.