So, as the orbits pass, they’ll appear to be about .5 degrees apart from our earthly vantage point. That means, the two planets will be separated by the width of a pencil erasure held up at arms’ length in the sky.
To see this beautiful event, go outside as darkness falls and look west toward the sunset. “There is no way that you’ll miss these two bright lights in the sky,” says Diana Hannikainen, who’s an editor at Sky & Telescope magazine. “Venus is definitely brighter and is the rightmost one. Jupiter is the leftmost one.”
And while you’re looking up, try something new. Pause for a moment and focus on how extraordinary the universe is. How far away these planets are. How mysterious they are. And how small you are.
“Look at that sky and think, ‘Wow! That’s big,” says psychologist Michelle Shiota at Arizona State University. “That’s so much bigger than me. That’s so much bigger than my life and my problems. However real those problems are.”
That’s the feeling of awe, Shiota says, which can give us perspective and be humbling. “And it seems to just help us calm down a little bit in a powerful way.”
If you miss the event tonight, check back on Thursday night. The two planets will still seem quite close, continuing their celestial dance. But soon, they’ll go back to arms length.
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