Venus and Jupiter - March 2012

In March of 2012 Venus and Jupiter formed a brilliant pairing in the western sky after sunset. Each night Venus rose higher and higher in the sky moving closer to Jupiter until they were within 3 degrees of each other between March 11 and 15. Then Venus started to widen the gap as it continued to move to the north of Jupiter.

This image captures the planet pairing on March 12, 2012. Even with the pronounced light pollution, the pair is prominent in the sky. The region of the sky shown in the image includes Andromeda, Aires, Pisces, and Triangulum.

The observatory was not staged for this shot. Rather, the observatory was busy at work capturing photons for a future addition to the Niteskys web site.