New Delhi: Stargazers and astronomer are in for this year’s most amazing celestial show: the two brightest planets, Venus and Jupiter, will seemingly collide in the night sky!
Starting Tuesday night, Jupiter and Venus will be so close in the night sky they'll look like a double star, and they'll be easy to see. This is because the two planets are so bright, they can easily be spotted without binoculars or a telescope and can even be seen before night completely falls.
Just look to the west, and you'll see the two planets nearly touching, forming what looks like a double star fairly close to the horizon.They will pass within a third of a degree of each other, allowing you to cover them both with the same finger.
It may seem that the planets may appear to be colliding, they're actually far apart. Venus is 56 million miles from Earth, and Jupiter is 10 times farther out, at just over 550 million miles.
However, Indian stargazers might not be able to witness this phenomenon. N Rathnasree, director of Delhi's Nehru Planetarium informed that India would miss the closest approach of the two planets which would take place at 9am, India time, on Wednesday.
The event, called a planetary conjunction, is one potential explanation for the “Star of Bethlehem”, a legend in Christianity that tells of the Magi seeing a striking star in the sky that foretold the birth of Jesus.
But, this celestial convergence is more common than you might think. Don't worry if you miss this one, you’ll be able to see it again on August 27, 2016.
Watch this video in which NASA explains the concept:
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