Eyes on sky witness Jupiter, Venus rendezvous

Lucknow: The west-northwestern sky transformed into a canvas of wonder just after sunset on Tuesday as thousands of residents gathered across the city to witness the celestial spectacle, the close conjunction of Venus and Jupiter.As daylight faded, the two brightest planets in the solar system appeared strikingly close, shining side by side and drawing gasps, curiosity and excitement from skywatchers.In astronomical terms, the phenomenon is known as a planetary conjunction, which occurs when two celestial bodies appear close together in the sky as seen from Earth. While such alignments take place every few months, this particular event stood out as Venus and Jupiter came within just 1.6 degrees of each other, making it one of the most visually impressive conjunctions in recent years.To facilitate public viewing, Indira Gandhi Planetarium(IGP) set up two high-powered telescopes and two astrophotography stations on its premises and around 2,500 visitors witnessed the phenomenon.Additional telescopes were installed at the Lete Hue Hanuman temple near Pakka Pul in Chowk, allowing a larger number of people to participate. The event coincided with Bada Mangal, adding a festive atmosphere as devotees, students and astronomy enthusiasts gathered in large numbers.“It felt magical to see two bright planets so close, they looked like glowing stars almost merging, I had so far only read about such events,” said Riya Srivastava, a student.Volunteers and members of UP Amateur Astronomers Club guided visitors, pointing out Venus, Jupiter and faint glimpses of Mercury. Through telescopes, many also observed Jupiter’s four Galilean moons, namely Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.Astronomy enthusiast Ankit Maurya said, “I could see tiny dots near Jupiter and it was unbelievable. It made me realise how vast the universe is. It was like a mini celestial parade.”Scientific officer at IGP, Sumit Srivastava, said a similarly close conjunction will be visible next on Nov 10, 2028 when the planets will be separated by approximately 0.8 degrees. The previous exceptionally close conjunction of Venus and Jupiter occurred on Mar 1, 2023, when the angular separation between the two planets was only 0.5 degrees.