Jupiter to pass Venus in a close conjunction early Monday

Jupiter will pass Venus in a low but close and spectacular conjunction on early Monday morning, media reports said.

The apparent distance between these two planets on Sunday morning will be more than halved and they will be separated by less than one degree, and on Monday morning, they will appear closest together and rising in tandem, side by side -- Venus on the left and a dimmer Jupiter on the right.

From the eastern US, they will be separated by a scant 17 arc minutes (0.28 degrees) - the equivalent of less than three-fifths of the apparent width of the moon. From the western US, when they rise, the gap between the planets will have widened slightly, to 21 arc minutes (0.35 degrees), the online portal Space reports.

Both the planets are nowhere near each other and just happen to line up when observed from our Earthly vantage point.

Venus will be 152 million miles (246 million km) from us, while Jupiter is nearly four times farther away, at 594 million miles (956 million km), the portal said.

Conjunctions between Venus and Jupiter are far from rare events -- taking place at mean intervals of 13 months.

Weather permitting, for those observers who don't have any tall obstructions such as trees or buildings toward the east-northeast, this "double planet" should make for a very striking visual spectacle, no doubt attracting the attention of even those who don't give more than a casual glance at the sky, Space added.

--IANS

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