As the Northern Lights hysteria begins to quieten down, skygazers are in for another treat this week.
Astronomy Ireland founder David Moore has said that Venus and Jupiter will “outshine all the of the stars in the sky” this week, as they pass extremely close to one another between sunset and 8pm.
Many sky-gazers in Ireland were able to make out the planets in the night vista, on Wednesday, and similar results are expected in parts of the country where there is not an abundance of cloud cover. Speaking to The Independent about the pending phenomenon, the astronomer said:
“I can’t remember ever seeing Jupiter and Venus this close in the evening sky and to have two brilliant objects so close together is bound to startle the general public as they look over in the west when the suns go down.”
Venus is 200 million kilometres from us, while Jupiter is nearly 900 million kilometres away. Although Jupiter is the dimmer of the pair, it is “actually a dozen times wider than Venus”, according to Moore.
VENUS & JUPITER SUPER-CLOSE – BRIGHTER THAN AURORA! Join & get this rare event details AND aurora photos in next magazine!
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Venus is the hottest planet in our solar system, with surface temperatures of about 900 degrees Fahrenheit (475 degrees Celsius) – hot enough to melt lead. The surface is a rusty colour, peppered with intensely crunched mountains and thousands of large volcanoes.
Meanwhile, Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system by far – more than twice the size of all the other planets combined. The planet is surrounded by dozens of moons and has several rings, but unlike the famous rings of Saturn, Jupiter’s rings are very faint and made of dust, not ice.
This story, by Fiona Frawley, first appeared on Lovin
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