The two brightest objects in the sky, Venus and Jupiter, have been drawing closer to each other for the past several weeks and will meet tonight to form one stunning star-like scene.
On Tuesday, June 30, and Wednesday, July 1, the planets will hit their tightest grouping in which they will be so close stargazers will be able to cover both with only their pinky fingers, National Geographic reported. This is the second of three convergences between Venus and Jupiter seen over the past year, and the event will happen once again at dawn on October 26.
"To the eye they'll look like a double star," Kelly Beatty, a senior editor at Sky & Telescope magazine said according to CBS News. "Anyone who hasn't glanced at the evening sky for a while will be surprised by how dramatically tight the pairing is."
These types of conjunctions are not particularly rare, but tonight's series of events is the most dramatic that has been seen in the past 15 years, National Geographic reported.
At the beginning of the month Venus and Jupiter were separated by a distant 21 degrees, which is equavlent to about "two fists" apart, but have been getting closer ever since NBC News reported. Tonight they will be only 0.33 degrees apart, which is about two-thirds the width of the moon.
After July 1, both planets will quickly move away from each other and closer to the horizon until they are lost in the Sun's glare, but will reappear in late August, National Geographic reported. Before they dip below the horizon, the planets will offer one more spectacular show. On July 18 they will still be no more than three fingers apart, and will be joined by a breathtaking crescent moon.
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