Venus and Jupiter Visible Closer on March 1 and 2 Today

Venus and Jupiter, source image: Inverse and GettyImage

There is good news for those of you who like astronomy. Yes, on March 1, 2023, the planets Venus and Jupiter will be close together, which can be seen. Reporting from the IFLScience page, Wednesday (28/2), the two celestial bodies will be in conjunction for the next few days.

Conjunction occurs when two celestial bodies appear to be close together but are essentially hundreds of millions of kilometers apart. 

In some cases, objects can appear so close that they appear to merge into one much brighter object as a result. Venus and Jupiter will be less than one degree apart but not close enough to appear as one bright body.

One degree is about the size of your little finger at arm's length. Each degree is divided into 60 minutes of arc. On March 1, the two planets will be 39 arc minutes apart and on March 2 they will be 45 arc minutes apart.

They would then continue to separate, with Venus rising in the western sky and Jupiter disappearing behind the Sun, before reappearing at dawn in late April.

A less rare conjunction between Jupiter and Venus, usually occurring about once every 13 months. But if you don't want to miss this one, make sure to have a clear view of the western sky from just before sunset.