THE JOLLY BUCCANEERS

Taken by Didier Van Hellemont on February 17, 2015 @ Sint-Laureins, Belgium

VENUS AND MARS: When the sun goes down tonight, step outside and face west. Venus is beaming through the twilight, so bright that it is often mistaken for a landing plane. Wait a while as the sky grows darker. Fainter Mars pops out right beside Venus. Didier Van Hellemont photographed the pair at sunset on Feb. 17th over Sint-Laureins, Belgium

In only a few days, the two planets will be dramatically closer together. At closest approach on Feb. 21st, they will be only 0.4^o apart, less than the width of a full Moon. The night before closest approach might be best of all: On Feb. 20th, the crescent Moon will pass right by the converging planets. Mark both dates on your calendar, Feb. 20th and 21st, and watch the western sky at sunset. It’s a great way to end the day

This entry was posted on February 19, 2015 at 6:03 pm and is filed under astronomy with tags Venus Mars February 2015. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.