When Jupiter and Venus align

Sarah Williams, astronomy student at SPC, takes a look from the observation deck of the St. Petersburg College observatory, atop the science building on the St. Pete Gibbs campus.

ST. PETERSBURG -- The St. Petersburg College planetarium has gotten a lot of phone calls about the bright planets visible in the southwest after sunset. This evening's beautiful conjunction of Jupiter, Venus and a waxing crescent moon could be seen all over the bay area.

These three objects will not appear this close together again until the year 2052. This grouping of planets is particularly appropriate this holiday season, as a similar conjunction of Jupiter and Venus in the summer of 3 B.C. is considered a possible explanation for the Christmas Star.

On that occasion, these two planets passed so close to one another that they were indistinguishable as two separate planets.

Jupiter is the 'star' on the right, with Venus below and to the left of Jupiter. Over the next few nights the moon will move farther to the east (left in the photo), and the separation between Jupiter and Venus will gradually increase.

The moon is the closest of the three objects, followed by Venus and Jupiter; both of these planets are on the far side of the sun.

-- Craig Joseph, Special to the Times


Photo by Craig Joseph, Planetarium Director, Department of Natural Science/Gibbs Campus, St. Petersburg College.