A unique planetary dance

Yesterday, millions of people worldwide could see a close three-way conjunction of Venus, Jupiter and the crescent moon. Furthermore, some lucky viewers, from some areas of Europe, North West Africa and the North Atlantic Ocean, could see an amazing event, the moon covering the planet Venus for over an hour, event known as a lunar occultation.

For example, viewers from the north western coast of Gozo, in Malta, could have seen this show at 5:55 pm. The brightest of the two planets, Venus, will remain high in the southwest all throughout this month, while Jupiter will be descending the western skies.

An argument for the uniqueness of this event in one's life is the fact that most of the time the moon, Jupiter and Venus come together, they are too close to the Sun or unite at a time when they are not so visible. The next time the two planets and the moon will be as close and visible will be on November 18, 2052.

However, the word "close" may be inappropriate for this situation, as Venus and Jupiter are separated by over 800 million kilometres. The two planets are particularly bright and that's because they both have highly reflective clouds that completely envelope them. Furthermore, Venus is Earth's closest neighbour and Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system.

An interesting fact reveals that historians think that a similar approach between Jupiter and Venus in the year 2 BC may have been the source of the star of Bethlehem story found in the Bible. The stellar pair would have appeared so close together that they might have seemed to blend into an amazing beacon of light.

However, from now on, the planets and the moon will start separating from each other, and we'll have to wait for about 44 years to see this again.