Amateur photographer Andrew McCarthy photographed the close encounter of Jupiter and Venus in the sky, showing the event in
On Wednesday (March 1) and Thursday (March 2) at nightIn the sky, two bright planets moved closer to each other, as if they were about to collide. Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, and Venus, one of the brightest objects in Earth's sky, were approximately the width of one full moon from each other. Over the course of several weeks, the two bodies gradually moved closer to each other. Previously, Hi-Tech showed how the Moon, a gas giant and the “evening star” formed a beautiful triangle in the evening sky.
Look at the meeting of the Moon, Venus and Jupiter in the sky
In the new photo it seems that Venusand Jupiter are nearby. Perhaps this would be the case if we were in the same orbit with Venus. Then people would see its natural satellites with the naked eye, at least the Gallian moons. Yes, theoretically, Europa, Ganymede, Io and Callisto can be seen without a telescope, but this requires a very dark sky, without moonlight and without dust, and also to see points near bright Jupiter. At the same time, the planet did not look like a star, but was half the size of the Moon.
In the new image, Jupiter is on the bottom left and Venus is on the top right. Points near Jupiter are its largest satellites - Europa, Ganymede, Io and Callisto. Photo: Andrew McCarthy
However, in fact, the distance betweenJupiter and the Earth varies within the range from 588 to 967 million km. At the same time, Venus is the planet closest to Earth in the solar system. Just like with other celestial bodies, the distance to it depends on the orbits of the Earth and Venus: the nearest is 38 million km, and the farthest is 162 million km.
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