Tag Archives: Venus

Jupiter and Venus Conjunction

Where you outside last night, Tuesday, 30-Jun-2015? Did you happen to look up in the sky? And perhaps wondering what these two bright lights high up there where: satellites, ISS, stars, airplanes?

None of the above. After a slow summer dance as Venus and Jupiter have sidled up to one another over the month of June, last night on 30-Jun-2015, they rendezvoused close enough to kiss – only a fraction of a degree apart. And one could see this rare spectacle in the sky even without telescopes.

20150630 Jupiter-Venus-Conjunction
©2015 NASA

Although the planets will appear to draw near one another in August and again in October, the next such event to rival last night’s won’t happen until 2023. And as the two planets will appear to be close together, in reality, millions of miles of empty space separate them.

Did you know: Which Planet’s Days Are Longer Than Its Years?

In the family of planets that make up our solar system, Venus is a peculiarity among peculiarities. The roughly Earth-sized but scorching planet has an average surface temperature of 462C (864F) and an atmosphere composed almost entirely (96.5%) of carbon dioxide.

Venus

As far as planetary extremes go, Continue reading Did you know: Which Planet’s Days Are Longer Than Its Years?