The Moon Venus and Jupiter to gather in celestial meeting

The two brightest planets in our sky — Venus and Jupiter — have been slowly approaching each other. 

At the start of the month, the two planets were separated in the sky by 21 degrees. From your outstretched hand, your clenched fist is equal to roughly 10 degrees, so at the beginning of June, Venus and Jupiter appeared about “two fists” apart. 

But ever since, they have been getting progressively closer to each other by an average of about 0.7 degrees each evening, until finally, tonight (June 30), they will be a scant 20 arc minutes (0.33 degrees) apart; the equivalent of two-thirds of the apparent width of the moon. 

Weather permitting; these two worlds should make for a very striking visual spectacle, no doubt attracting the attention of even those who don’t give more than a casual glance at the night sky.