06/30/2015 – Ephemeris – Tonight’s close conjunction of Jupiter and Venus will be visible in the west after sunset

Ephemeris for Tuesday, June 30th.  Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 31 minutes, setting at 9:32.   The Moon, 1 day before full, will set at 5:49 tomorrow morning and tomorrow the Sun will rise at 6:00.

Tonight the planets Venus and Jupiter will appear at their closest in the western sky after sunset.  Dimmer Jupiter will appear just above Venus by 20 minutes of arc or two-thirds of the width of the Moon.  They can both be seen in the same telescope field using low power.  It’s interesting that Jupiter, is over 11 times the diameter of Venus, but because Venus is so much closer to us, it now appears to be the same size as Jupiter, and it will continue to grow.  It’s 48 million miles away and closing to 27 million on August 15th when it passes between the Earth and the Sun.  Astrologers think a conjunction like this means something, while astronomers like me see two bright planets which happen to be beautifully aligned along our line of sight.

Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Jupiter-Venus approach animation June 11 to July 1, 2015 at 10:30 p.m. Created using Stellarium and GIMP. Click on image to enlarge.

A telescopic view of what we expect the positions of Jupiter and Venus at 10:30 p.m. EDT June 30, 2015 (2:20 UT July 1, 2015). Created using Stellarium.