Evening Planets

The twins of Gemini have a front-row seat for a planetary waltz this month. Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury are close to the twins now, and will bunch up even closer as the month progresses. The “twins” are the stars Pollux and Castor. They’re about a quarter of the way up the western sky as evening twilight fades. Pollux is the brighter of the two, with Castor to its right. Jupiter looks like a brilliant star to the lower left of the twins. It’s the largest planet in the solar system. But it’s on the far side of the Sun as seen from Earth, so it’s more than 550 million miles away – about six times the distance between Earth and the Sun. Venus is even brighter – the “evening star.” It’s below the twins. Although it’s a little smaller than Earth, it shines much brighter than Jupiter mainly because it’s much closer to both Earth and the Sun. Venus and Jupiter remain in view for a good while after darkness falls. That’s not the case for Mercury. It’s well to the lower right of the others, and much lower in the sky. It’s bright, though, so with a clear horizon, there’s a good chance to spot it. Mercury will move a little higher into the sky over the next few nights, improving the view. But the real action involves Jupiter and Venus. Venus is climbing away from the Sun quickly. It will nestle especially close to Jupiter on the 8th and 9th. It’ll pull away after that – all in close view of the twins. Script by Damond Benningfield