Venus and Jupiter Are About to Look Like They're Hugging
The News
On the night of June 9 , two of the brightest "stars" in the western sky won't be stars at all — they'll be the planets Venus and Jupiter , and they'll look like they're almost touching. NASA says it's one of the prettiest sky shows of the summer, and you don't need a telescope to see it. (A few days later, June 11–15, tiny Mercury sneaks in to join them — a real planet parade.)
The sky was deep blue and the stars were just blinking on, one by one. Professor Pip stood at the top of a soft grassy hill, his fluffy ringed tail swishing in the warm summer air. He patted his pockets and pulled out — aha! — his small brass telescope.
"There you are, you beauties," he murmured, peering up.
Mia and Leo scrambled up beside him.
"What are we looking at, Professor Pip?" Mia asked.
"Look low — there, just above the horizon." Pip pointed with his paw. "See those two very bright dots? The big creamy one, and the slightly smaller bright-white one?"
"They're so close together!" Leo said.
"That," said Professor Pip, his whiskers twitching, "is Jupiter — the biggest planet in our whole solar system. And right beside it, the bright white one? That's Venus. On June ninth, they'll look like they're nearly touching."
"Touching?!" Mia gasped. "Will they bump into each other?"
"Oh, no no no." Pip chuckled. "Let me show you why they only look close." He pulled two pebbles from his pocket — one big, one small — and set them on the grass. "Pretend these are Venus and Jupiter." Then he walked far away, almost to the edge of the hill, and turned around.
"Now close one eye and look at the pebbles from here!"
The kids squinted. "They look like they're right next to each other!" Leo said.
"And yet?" Pip walked back and held the pebbles apart in his paws.
"They're way far apart!" said Mia.
"PRECISELY!" said Pip, clapping. "Venus and Jupiter are millions and millions of miles from each other. But from where Earth is sitting in space, our line of sight catches them in almost the same direction. So they only look close. Scientists call this lining-up a conjunction."
"Like when two of my dolls look like they're hugging from across the room, but they're really on different shelves!" Mia said.
"Curiouser and curiouser!" Pip beamed. "Exactly right!"
He looked up at the gentle dance above them. Somewhere out there, Jupiter — with all its swirling clouds and its dozens of moons — was sliding along its big slow orbit. And Venus was sliding along its smaller, faster one. And both were just doing what they always do.
"Tonight is just the beginning," Pip whispered. "On the eleventh, tiny Mercury joins them. A whole planet parade."
He handed Leo and Mia each a small star chart. "Now I wonder… what will you spot tomorrow?"
Spark a Conversation
- Why do you think planets look like little points of light even though some of them are HUGE?
- If you could fly to one planet in our solar system, which one would you pick — and what would you bring?
- Have you ever seen something far away that looked close, or something close that looked far?