Jupiter, Mars to Be Chummy in Night Sky This Week

Mars and Jupiter are cozying up in the night sky for their closest rendezvous this decade. They'll be so close early Wednesday, at least from our perspective, that just a sliver of moon could fit between them. In reality, our solar system's biggest planet and its dimmer, reddish neighbor will be more than 350 million miles apart in their respective orbits, per the AP.

• When/where to watch: The best views should be between 2am and dawn on Wednesday, per Live Science. Look to the eastern sky, toward constellation Taurus, notes the AP.
• Naked eye: Both planets should be visible to the naked eye if skies are clear, though Jupiter will be significantly brighter. Those with a small telescope or stargazing binoculars will get clearer views.

• Moving closer: The two planets will technically reach their minimum separation—one-third of 1 degree or about one-third the width of the moon—during daylight hours Wednesday in most of the Americas, Europe, and Africa. But they won't appear that much different hours earlier when the sky is dark, said Jon Giorgini of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.
• Calendars: Their orbits haven't brought them this close together since 2018. And it won't happen again until 2033, when they'll get even chummier. The closest in the past 1,000 years was in 1761, when Mars and Jupiter appeared to the naked eye as a single bright object, according to Giorgini. Looking ahead, the year 2348 will be almost as close.

(More Mars stories.)