Howdy Habersham!
If the weather cooperates, something very special will be in the western sky just after sunset tonight. For the past few weeks Venus and Jupiter have been very slowly getting closer together in the night sky. They will make their closest approach tonight and it promises to be dazzling.
If you go out tonight even during mid to late twilight the convergence should be plainly visible fairly high in the western sky (they’ll be 25º high at 9:15, and still 12º at 10:15). To the naked eye they will appear as a “double star” and both will fit behind the tip of your outstretched pinky finger (a mere 1/3 of a degree technically). If you have a pair of binoculars or a small (6″ or less) telescope both planets will be visible at once through the eyepiece. This will allow you to see the crescent phase of Venus next to the 4 major moons of Jupiter.
Convergences of Jupiter and Venus are fairy common, especially compared to other planetary convergences, however passes of 1/3º are of the best. It is believed by many scholars that an even closer conjunction of these two brightest planets were part of a series of events that led the Magi (the wise men) to Bethlehem to find Christ. Because of this, any tight convergence of Venus and Jupiter is called a “Star of Bethlehem”.
So… cross your fingers for some breaks in the clouds and get out around 9:15-10:00 tonight to see “The Star”.
Also happening tonight: a “leap second” will be added to official clocks at midnight, accounting for the gradual slowing of Earth’s rotation. The pull of the moon’s gravity is gradually slowing Earth’s rotation, making days fractions of a second longer each year. We’ve added up enough fractions to warrant an extra second being added, and scientists picked today to do so. Make the most of that extra second!
