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Jupiter and Venus Monday Morning
updated: Aug 16, 2014, 4:00 PM
By Chuck McPartlin
Early risers on Monday morning will see a pretty sight rising in the pre-dawn
sky to the ENE at about 5:30 AM. Jupiter and Venus will be very close together
and quite bright. This is the most spectacular planetary conjunction of 2014.
If the marine layer behaves, try to find a view to the east that is not
blocked by our mountains, and enjoy the show.
Of course, the two planets aren't really close to each other, they'll just
look that way from our point of view on Earth. Venus will be 150 million
miles away from us, and Jupiter will be 579 million miles away, aligned
along our line of sight. With binoculars, you may be able to spot a star
cluster just to the left of the planets known as the Beehive Cluster, or
M44. The cluster is about 600 light years in the background. Also visible
in binoculars will be Jupiter's Galilean moons Io and Europa, above Jupiter,
and Ganymede and Callisto, below the planet.
Hasta nebula - Chuck
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