A Rare Sight: Three Planets Together

May 28, 2013

There was a rare celestial dance of sorts in the skies Sunday and Monday night, staring  Jupiter, Venus and Mercury.

The Sunday night show was called a “triple conjunction”, with the three planets — which happen to the brightest in the sky — appearing in a triangle-like meeting. Triple conjunctions of planets are fairly rare.  The last time it happened was in May 2011, and it won’t happen again until October 2015.

The show will have one last performance, weather permitting, on Tuesday evening. The best time to look is 30 to 60 minutes after sunset. Tuesday night, Jupiter and Venus will appear much closer together, separated by just one degree.

Pictured top: Mercury, Jupiter and Venus together as seen over a water tower in Walnut Hill Sunday evening. Pictured below: The same photograph with the planets labeled.  NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.

Comments

2 Responses to “A Rare Sight: Three Planets Together”

  1. Leslie on May 28th, 2013 7:34 am

    How cool. Thanks for sharing and giving us the information to possibly be able to see it again.

  2. Carolyn Bramblett on May 28th, 2013 5:08 am

    Great picture. Thanks for sharing this.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under Archive