Bright Conjunction This Weekend

If you want to see a spectacular dawn conjunction of the two brightest planets, Venus and Jupiter, look to the east on the mornings of November 12, 13, and 14. Sunrise will be about 6:30 AM PST, and the two planets will rise (from a site with a flat eastern horizon) about an hour before the Sun. Look just a bit south of due east, at an azimuth of 110 degrees. Venus will be the brighter planet.

If you look on all three mornings, you’ll be able to watch Jupiter move from a position below Venus to one above Venus. Celestial mechanics in action!

The image from Starry Night software is what the view might be like at sunrise on Monday, November 13, when the two will be at their closest. The circle shows the field of view for 10x50 binoculars. Although they may appear to be near each other from our point of view, Venus is actually 153 million miles away, with Jupiter in the background at 595 million miles away.

If the sky is steady, you may spot some of Jupiter’s four large Galilean Moons in binoculars. As the sky brightens, you should be able to see brilliant Venus well into a blue morning sky.

 

Hasta nebula.