Venus and Jupiter, the brightest planets in the night sky, were visible to the naked eye in clear weather.
Advertisement
Some are calling this “The Star of Bethlehem” conjunction because Jupiter and Venus did something similar near the star Regulus in 3/2BC.
For eight nights in a row, which began June 27, two of the brightest planets in our sky will be within two degrees of each other.
Venus will look like a handsome bright star, and on its upper right will be Jupiter. The planets will be within two degrees of each other each night through July 5.
“Sky & Telescope wrote that while Venus and Jupiter will appear the same size and in the same celestial neighborhood, in reality, not so much”. The next time they will be as close as they were earlier this week will come in 2023. The conjunction can best be seen by looking westward about an hour after sunset. While the conjunction is somewhat rare, with the next one going to happen only a year from August, the celestial event is not rare in the grand scheme of things. They will be hard to miss as the sun sets, emerging as the sky deepens from magenta to mauve to periwinkle.
Though the “Star of Bethlehem” has religious significance for Christians, S&T writer Alan MacRobert said the event doesn’t portend anything these days, but simply makes people pay more attention to the heavens.
Advertisement
This convergence is known as a planetary conjunction – which is often cited as a possible scientific explanation for the Star of Bethlehem, the sign in the Gospel of Matthew that drew the Magi to the birth of Jesus.
