Venus and Jupiter to appear close to colliding in rare spectacle

Skygazers are getting the chance to see Venus and Jupiter almost touch in a rare celestial spectacle this weekend.

The solar system’s two brightest planets will appear to be close enough to collide tonight, despite being millions of kilometres apart.

The same cosmic treat won’t occur again like this until 2039.

It will show Venus and Jupiter lined up as they rise above the horizon, just before the Sun follows after them.

The peak time to see this planetary conjunction was between around 5am and 6am on Saturday but it can still be spotted in the early hours of Sunday and in the coming days as the planets slowly move apart.

Despite appearing from Earth to be lined up, the planets will not actually be in that position in space.

Dr Robert Massey, deputy executive director of the Royal Astronomical Society, said: ‘In this particular case you have Venus and Jupiter (appearing) close together and because they are both bright, that’s a nice sight.

‘It is fun. Is it scientifically important – no not really – but it does provide a nice spectacle.’

Just the naked eye or binoculars should be enough to see it in a clear sky.

Dr Massey added: ‘Although they appear close together, Venus is about 150 million kilometres away at the moment and Jupiter is 740 million kilometres away.’

A clear eastern horizon is needed to see the event. Buildings, trees and hills will make it much harder to see as they will appear quite low in the sky.

Viewers in the UK will have a harder time of trying to see it than people further south in southern Europe, Africa, or Australia, as the planets will appear to be a lot higher in the sky before sunrise.

Dr Massey said that in the UK ‘it will be best to stop looking at sunrise so you are not staring at the sun which is bad for your eyes’.

Then once the sun rises, it will be ‘virtually impossible’ to see the event.

Astronomers are urging people not to miss their chance to see the rare event.

While conjunctions between Venus and Jupiter take place annually, this one will be extra special because of how close the two planets will appear.

The same spectacular is not expected for another 17 years.

Met Office meteorologist Craig Snell said: ‘Venus and Jupiter will not be visible in the sky until around sunrise on Sunday morning, so by then most of England and Wales will be cloudy.

‘There is a small chance the southeast could still have some cloud breaks, but the better chance will be across northern Scotland.’

MORE : How to see an epic planetary alignment from your house this weekend

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.