COLUMBIA, S.C. — Closing out the month of February, we will be seeing a very exciting pairing in our night sky. If you have been out in the evenings, you have probably seen the two planets Venus and Jupiter shining brightly right around sunset. We have many pictures. Interestingly, each night these planets have been getting closer and closer each night and will end up in what we call a conjunction on March 1st, this Wednesday.
A conjunction is when two planets get very close to each other in the night sky and on March 1st, Venus and Jupiter will be so close you could cover them both with your pinky finger.
The reason for this celestial event is pretty simple. As the planets orbit around the sun we see them shift in our night sky. It just happens that Jupiter and Venus will be lining up from our view from the Earth. A pretty amazing sight, considering Venus and Jupiter average over 400 million miles between the two of them!
The great thing about this conjunction is that you can view the planets getting closer each night. All you have to do is go outside right after sunset and look out towards the west. The planets should be pretty high in the sky so they will be hard to miss!
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Looking at the weather over the next few nights we will be dealing with some clouds but, things are looking promising for viewing the conjunction as we head into the month of March.
