Jupiter, Mars and Venus will appear close to each other in the morning sky on Monday, forming a planetary triangle in the night sky.
If you’re a space nerd, you won’t want to miss this. Later this week, Jupiter, Mars, and Venus will all be visible in the same frame of view in the early morning sky, converging for a pre-Halloween spectacle. According to a report from Mashable, the three planets will be visible starting Monday this week.
Jupiter and Venus will appear close to each other in the morning sky on Monday, and Mars will not be far behind. The three planets will seem to get closer throughout the course of the week, forming a tiny triangle in the sky early on Wednesday morning.
The best part about the event? You won’t need any telescopes or binoculars to catch a glimpse of the action. The planetary conjunction, as astronomers call it, will be one of the brightest in recent memory. Venus and Jupiter are some of the brightest lights in the night sky, and Mars can produce a stunning display itself. Depending on visibility in your area, you could trace the travels of the three planets over the course of a whole week.
Venus will appear just over one degree from Jupiter in the night sky, creating an extremely close line. Holding your finger up to the sky at arm’s length constitutes roughly one degree.
Binoculars, while not necessary, can certainly help. NASA reports that a standard pair of binoculars allows people to see about 6 or 7 degrees of a given section of the sky. Viewers that use binoculars will also be able to see four of Jupiter’s moons, Io, Ganymede, Europa, and Castillo. You might need a tripod or a flat surface to be able to pick them out accurately, NASA says. The moons will appear in a different configuration each morning.
Venus will be the star of the planetary conjunction event, however, as it is the brightest of the three planets. While Jupiter is much bigger than Venus, its proximity to Earth (Venus is our closest neighbor in the solar system) means that more of its light reaches our surface.
Mars will be the dimmest component of the planetary conjunction event, but it will be easy to pick out – it has a slight red tinge. While these three planets are all millions of miles apart, their convergence is just the effect of our vantage point here on Earth. Each of the planets follows its own orbital, or circular path around the sun at the center of the solar system. This week, Venus, Mars and Jupiter will simply be passing by each other on their long journey around the sun.
Thankfully, this won’t be your only chance to see the three planets in the sky together again. They will be visible and even more closely packed together later next month during the crescent moon, and on November 6, Jupiter will move directly above Mars and Venus.
Saturn will also make an appearance right after sunset throughout the month, and Mercury will be visible above the horizon right before dawn. Stargazers will also have the opportunity to check out the Leonid meteor shower in the middle of November.
The fall is full of great stargazing opportunities, so bundle up, fill your thermos, and get outside!