The planets Jupiter and Venus are expected to exchange a “cosmic kiss” on Thursday evening when they appear side-by-side in the sky.
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The two stars have been following the same trajectory since Wednesday evening. Jupiter has moved west while Venus continues its course in the other direction.
Attention sky watchers: Witness Venus and Jupiter hanging like two peas in a pod! At dusk today (March 1) catch the pair above the western horizon during sunset and shortly after. Details on this and other events: https://t.co/Dz0MN3F6D0 pic.twitter.com/qXAagzI6aU
—NASA (@NASA) March 1, 2023
Budding astronomers can observe this exchange between the planets at around 7:30 p.m. Eastern time, just after sunset. Venus is on the right and Jupiter on the left.
There will also be a live event streamed online.
Venus and Jupiter are getting closer and closer as the weeks go by. They will create a conjunction, that is, an event where the two stars appear very close in the sky.
This event is not very rare as Jupiter and Venus cross each other every year.
Obviously the planets won’t actually touch. “They separate them 650 million kilometers,” says Jackie Faherty, an astronomer at the American Museum of Natural History.
According to information from the New York Post