Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Jupiter and Mars shared the same spot of sky on the morning of Aug 14, 2024. Gianluca Masi/The Virtual Telescope Project Mars and Jupiter were last night involved in their closest planetary rendezvous until December 2033. The two planets—the fourth and fifth planets from the sun, respectively—appeared to share the same spot of the sky (in the constellation Taurus) from a couple of hours after midnight through dawn.
The rare event—called a conjunction by astronomers—was imaged (above) by Gianluca Masi at The Virtual Telescope Project . It plans to livestream the upcoming “Sturgeon Supermoon” on Aug. 19 and the occultation of Saturn by the moon on Aug.
21. Although last night the two planets seemed closest, sky-watchers are recommended to look any night week for an impressive view. Look east-northeast about two hours after midnight local time, or towards the southeast about an hour before sunrise.
Optical Illusion The apparent meeting of the two planets was neither a fair fight nor an actual celestial event. MORE FOR YOU Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Clues And Answers For Wednesday, August 14 Starbucks CEO Is Tossed Out Like A Poorly Made Latte Google’s New AI Features Could (And Should) Make Apple Nervous Firstly, Jupiter was about 20 times brighter than Mars. Secondly, the planets were not close to each other in reality.
An illusion caused by a planetary alignment, the conjunction saw Mars and Jupiter aligned o.