Venus, Jupiter, and Neptune met up briefly in the western sky after sunset during February and early March.

A. Jupiter (upper) and Venus (lower) (15 February 2023)

• Fourteen degrees in the sky, about the distance from the tip of the index finger to the tip of the little finger (imitating horns of a bull) viewed at arm’s length, separate the two planets. Jupiter and Venus are the two brightest objects in the photo.
• Notice the artificial satellite trail at the far right edge of this one-second exposure.

B. Jupiter and Neptune (15 February 2023)

• Jupiter is obvious. The faint specks are stars except the one just below Jupiter and slightly to the right. That exception is Neptune sitting at 5:00 o’clock if Jupiter is the center of the clock. (For reference please note the stars at 11:00 o’clock and 4:00 o’clock at the same distance from Jupiter as Neptune.) The telephoto lens allows us to see Neptune which is invisible to the unaided eye.
• I apologize that you may have to view the photo on a computer rather than a device to see Neptune. Although Neptune is the fourth largest planet, its distance at five and half times more distant than Jupiter makes it seem small.
• Like many amateur astronomers I delight in finding specks and wisps at the threshold of seeing.

C. Venus (upper) and Jupiter (lower) (2 March 2023)

• Two weeks after photo “A,” Venus  and Jupiter are now one degree apart, the width of your little finger at arm’s length.
• Although Jupiter’s disk is twelve times larger than Venus’s, the latter’s disk seems bigger than the former’s because it is four times closer to us.
• Notice the clouds and the catalpa tree with its long pods.
• Check out my my post of the last Venus and Jupiter conjunction.

Thank you for accompanying me in this quest for wonder in ordinary places,

Michael DeCaria

“Make visible what, without you, might perhaps never have been seen” -Robert Bresson