Polzeath; Cornwall. 30th of June 2015. Conjunction of Jupiter and Venus. Stargazers around the world were treated to an usual sight last night, when Venus and Jupiter appeared close together in the sky. The planets, which are hundreds of millions of miles from each other, seemed to be planetary neighbours and there is a chance that they may appear to merge tonight and on Wednesday night. The event will be the closest conjunction of the two planets until August next year The two planets are the brightest in the night sky as seen from Earth Credit: Andrew O'Brien / Alamy Live News
Polzeath; Cornwall. 30th of June 2015. Conjunction of Jupiter and Venus. Stargazers around the world were treated to an usual sight last night, when Venus and Jupiter appeared close together in the sky. The planets, which are hundreds of millions of miles from each other, seemed to be planetary neighbours and there is a chance that they may appear to merge tonight and on Wednesday night. The event will be the closest conjunction of the two planets until August next year The two planets are the brightest in the night sky as seen from Earth. The line-of-sight illusion is caused when the orbits of Venus and Jupiter line up on the same side of the sun as seen from Earth. As Venus orbits in 225 days, Earth in 365 and Jupiter in 4,330, the chance of such as alignment occurring is fairly rare. The next, in August 2016, will be visible only from certain latitudes, and the celestial event will not be seen in UK skies like this again until November 2019.
Size: 2549px × 3500px
Photo credit: © Andrew O'Brien / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: &, jupiter, venus
