Did you see Jupiter before dawn Friday? Watch for dazzling Venus and Saturn after sunset today

    Venus, the brightest planet in the solar system, will be visible with Saturn shortly after sunset tomorrow in the western sky.

    That’s when the “Venus-Saturn conjunction” occurs, an Earthsky.org report explains:

    It just means that – on October 30 – Saturn and Venus have the same right ascension on an imaginary grid on our sky’s dome. Right ascension, to astronomers, is like longitude to geographers.

    Venus will be visible about 20 to 30 minutes — or possibly less — after sunset. Then, just after the last color disappears from the sky, Saturn will appear nearby. 

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    But Venus, which will remain in the evening sky for “many months to come,” according to Earthsky.org, will steal the show.

    “Although Saturn is as bright as the sky’s brightest stars, it pales next to Venus, the third-brightest celestial body after the sun and moon. Venus shines some 65 times more brilliantly than Saturn and 100 times more brilliantly than the star Antares, which is near the two planets on our sky’s dome,” the report states. 

    Saturn will disappear from the sky by late next month.

    Steve Scanlon Photography captured king planet Jupiter near the waning crescent moon before sunrise in the eastern sky yesterday.

    Scalon’s picture, above at Monmouth Beach facing over the Atlantic Ocean, speaks for itself, with Earthsky.org adding that the moon with Jupiter is “a beautiful pairing.”

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