Jupiter, Moon and Venus in a Triangle
(ChattahBox) — In one of the most spectacular shows, sky-gazers will be able to view the two brightest planets, Venus and Jupiter, forming a triangle with the moon. The show will get more spectacular as the three celestial bodies move even closer today and the whole scene is reaching towards its climax.
If there is clear sky, people will be able to see the three celestial bodies, right after the sunset. There will appear as two bright stars side by side with Venus being the brightest and Jupiter being the next brightest star. The trio will be closest on Sunday and Monday with the crescent moon joining them to form a triangle that can be eclipsed with a thumb held at an arm’s length. From Tuesday, the three will again start pulling away from each other and this scenario will not be again visible till March of 2012, but a situation as close as this will be visible only after 44 years in the year 2052.
The dance of these planets will look very close, but they will actually be miles apart. The moon is 252,000 miles away, Venus is 370 times farther than the moon, at 94 million miles and Jupiter is nearly six times as far away as Venus, at 540 million miles.
The whole event will be visible with the naked eye on Monday in the evening time around dusk.
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