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Close grouping of moon, Venus, Jupiter offers celestial show

By Brian Indrelunas, The (Palm Springs, Calif.) Desert Sun

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. – The three brightest objects in the night sky will appear close together just before dawn Sunday.

No binoculars or telescope is needed to see the crescent moon, Venus and Jupiter together starting between 4 and 5 a.m. Sunday, said Bob Victor of Palm Springs, a former staff astronomer at Michigan State University.

"It'll be impressive with the naked eye, especially during the earlier part of that time," he said Friday.

Venus will be brightest, appearing low in the east-northeast sky, below and to the right of the moon, Victor said. Jupiter will appear above the other two celestial bodies.

With the naked eye, the planets will seem like bright stars. A closer look through a telescope or a steady set of binoculars will reveal that, like the moon, Venus sports a crescent shape.

"It is also in the foreground of the sun, so the sun is lighting up mostly the other side of it," Victor said.

Even after sunrise, the moon and Venus should still be visible above and to the right of the sun, he said.

A similar grouping could be seen earlier this year in the west around sunset.

"Now Venus and Jupiter have switched over to the morning, and they're having another approach. Usually you have to wait more than a year," Victor said. "They closed in on each other on July 1, but they're only slowly pulling apart."

Enter the moon, and the trio is complete.

The sight can be seen in the east-northeast before sunrise around the world, except close to the poles -- given clear skies, that is.

"The desert Southwest probably has the best chance of seeing it," Victor said.

Though the moon and planets will be tightly grouped as seen from Earth, they're really light-minutes apart.

Venus is nearly 44 million miles -- or 3.9 minutes traveling at the speed of light -- from Earth, which qualifies as relatively nearby. Jupiter is about 12 times farther away.

The moon is only about 1 and one-third light-seconds from Earth.

This particular trio won't reunite until May 2013, Victor said.

"It won't be as impressive as this time because it will be lower in the twilight and it will be evening," he said.

Sunday's celestial show is part of a busy summer for stargazers, who also had the chance to see the moon block out most of the sun May 20 and Venus cross the sun's face June 5.

"It's been a really good several months," Victor said.