A planetary "near-miss" promises to delight Utahns next week, providing the weather permits.
The rare conjunction features two of the most beautiful planets in the heavens, Venus and Jupiter.Venus is the brightest object above us except for the sun or moon, far outshining any star. It's our closest planetary neighbor. Shrouded by clouds of carbon dioxide, Venus reflects back most of the sunlight that strikes it, creating a dazzling display.
Jupiter is justly called the king of planets because of its size, more than 88,700 miles across. With the exception of Mars -- when the red planet is in just the right orientation -- Jupiter is the next brightest object in the heavens after Venus.
Jupiter and Venus won't actually be within hailing distance of each other. In fact, they'll be separated by more than 416 million miles.
But from our vantage point, they will seem to line up, moving closer and closer between now and Tuesday, Feb. 23. That night they will go through the "near-miss."
In succeeding days, they will pull farther apart.
Tuesday evening, Venus and Jupiter will seem only 18 arc-minutes away from each other. In comparison, the full moon is about half a degree (30 arc-minutes) across.
To get an idea where to look -- that is, if clouds don't get in the way -- go outside tonight at 7 and glance toward the west-southwest, near where the sun went down. Locate the slender crescent moon. The planet Saturn is the bright dot above the moon.
Below the moon and to the right, you'll see the planet Jupiter. Venus will be close below Jupiter, separated from it by 4 degrees, 45 arc-minutes (a bit under nine full-moon diameters).
As a sidelight, through binoculars you should be able to see some of Jupiter's largest moons.
Remember where you looked, because by Tuesday the moon will have wandered away and will no longer serve as a marker. Look at the same location about the same time every evening between now and Tuesday, and you will see Venus and Jupiter appear to draw nearer night by night.
On Tuesday they'll be at their closest, a lovely spectacle in the western sky.
"Venus is much, much brighter than Jupiter," said Patrick Wiggins of Hansen Planetarium. But its brilliance won't be enough to obscure Jupiter, and the planets will remain separated even without using a pair of binoculars or a telescope -- unless, he added, you have especially bad vision.
Still, they will be shining up there close to each other. "Seeing those on top of the Oquirrhs could be quite pretty," Wiggins said.
For more information, call Hansen Planetarium's public information "Starline," 532-STAR (532-7827).