Venus And Jupiter Meeting In Rare Conjunction, To Be Closest On March 1

Skywatchers can witness a rare phenomenon in the night sky as two of the brightest planets in our solar system, Jupiter and Venus will meet in the atmosphere after sunset. According to Space.com, at the start of this month, both planets were separated by 29 degrees and now they are slowly approaching each other.

The two planets seemed to be separated by around "three fists" from each other. However, now the distance between them has started to drop every night. By February 20, the distance between the two planets was a little over nine degrees. On February 27, the gap will have diminished to just 2.3 degrees.

The planets will be closest on Wednesday evening, March 1, just 0.52 degrees apart. Jupiter will shine at magnitude -2.1 and Venus will be blazing at magnitude -4.0.

Not just these planets, but the moon will also join the party. The Space.com report mentioned, "As if having the two brightest planets calling our attention to them in this month's evening sky wasn't enough, the moon will add its own special lustre to this array during the evenings of Feb. 21 and 22."

Skywatchers can look low toward the west-southwest horizon approximately one hour after sunset and see the slender sliver of a waxing crescent moon.