by Venus and Jupiter will converge on Wednesday (March 1) during a gathering of the Solar System’s record breakers, the hottest planet and largest, in the night sky.
Accordingly In heaven (opens in new tab)during the close approach between the two planets, Venus and Jupiter will pass each other within just 29.4 arc minutes, or about half a degree. (Her clenched fist held at arm’s length covers about 10 degrees of the sky.)
From New York City, the pairing will appear around 18:04 EST (2304 GMT), when the two planets will be about 23 degrees above the horizon to the west. venus Jupiter then sinks towards the horizon and sets about 2.5 hours after the Sun. The moment of closest approach occurs on Thursday (March 2) at 00:05 EST (0505 GMT).
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During the approach, both planets are in the constellation Pisces. Venus is -4.0 magnitude, while Jupiter is -2.1 magnitude, with the minus prefix in front of both magnitudes indicating particularly bright objects Earth.
“They will be close enough to fit within a’s field of view telescopebut also visible to the naked eye or through binoculars,” wrote In the Sky.
Venus, the second planet from the sun, is also the hottest world in the solar system. Venus is hotter than Mercury, the planet closest to the Sun, because it has a dense atmosphere that traps heat and causes an extreme greenhouse effect.
Surface temperatures on Venus reach up to 475 degrees Celsius (900 degrees Fahrenheit), enough to melt lead. The planet is also dotted with volcanoes, some of which may still be active. Volcanic activity, if sustained, can help push up temperatures by choking the atmosphere with greenhouse gases.
Jupiter is much further out in the solar system – it’s the fifth planet from the sun – and is therefore much cooler than Venus, with an average temperature of about minus 238 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 150 degrees Celsius).
While losing the temperature competition, Jupiter is unchallenged in terms of size. The massive gas giant is about 142,984 kilometers (88,846 miles) in diameter, while Venus’ diameter is only 12,103 kilometers (7,520 miles). Around 1,400 Venuses fit into the gas giant.
This huge difference in size means that while Venus is much closer to Earth than Jupiter, the gas giant will still have a larger angular size in the night sky on Wednesday than the second planet from the Sun. Jupiter will have an angular size of about 33″3 while Venus will have an angular size of 12″2.
If you’re hoping to catch a glimpse of Venus and Jupiter during the close encounter, our guides are for the best telescopes And best binoculars are a good start.
If you want to take photos of the night sky, check out our guide how to photograph the moonas well as ours The best cameras for astrophotography And The best lenses for astrophotography.
Editor’s note: If you take a photo of Venus and Jupiter’s close approach and would like to share it with Space.com readers, send your photos, comments, and your name and location to [email protected].
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