The moon shines between two brilliant planets this evening (January 27, 2012) – Venus and Jupiter. Venus, the sky’s brightest planet, blazes below tonight’s moon. Jupiter, the second brightest planet, shines above it. For the fun of it, we also point out the planets Uranus and Neptune, even though you won’t be able to see these distant, faint worlds with the unaided eye.
Venus will catch up with Jupiter in middle March, 2012. Then you’ll be able to see one of the best Venus-Jupiter conjunctions in years.
The above chart covers a lot more sky than most of our charts do. At dusk or nightfall, as seen from northerly latitudes, Jupiter shines fairly high in the south, whereas Venus beams below the waxing crescent moon in the west-southwest. (At southerly latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere, this lineup of planets actually angles downward from right to left, instead of left to right. See chart at lower right.)
The evening planets as viewed from the Southern Hemisphere
We also draw in the ecliptic – the Earth’s orbital plane projected onto the sphere of stars. The planets of the solar system circle the sun on nearly the same plane that Earth does, so we always find planets near the ecliptic. In their outward order from the sun, the planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Where is the ecliptic in relation to the Milky Way?
Draw an imaginary line from Jupiter through Venus and you might be able to visualize Uranus and Neptune with the mind’s eye. Keep in mind that the positions of the evening planets – especially Venus – change from day to day. These worlds are moving eastward along the ecliptic, the great racetrack of the heavens.
Because Venus moves more swiftly than the other three evening planets, Venus will catch up with Uranus on February 9, to stage a stunning conjunction of these two worlds. This will be a great time to spot Uranus next to Venus with binoculars or a low-powered telescope.
January 2012 guide to the five visible planets
Let the moon guide you to the evening planets tonight, and then watch Venus race toward Uranus and Jupiter in the weeks and months ahead.
I failed to see Venus below the moon this evening, as I have lost the sight in both my eyes, however, my wife has got a Chris Rea album, and if she doesn’t turn it off, she’ll be the one seeing stars!
Is Venus always under neath the moon or does it appear on top ? What times of the years…
Los Angeles, CA
Crystal clear sky and great veiws of Jupiter and Venus: wonderful.
lovely clear night sky Thursday and tonight view of Jupiter and Venus stunning
Breath-taking sight tonight from North Carolina! Cryatsal clear moom, Venus & Neptune. No stars visible yet at ^:45 pm.
I have been seeing a bright light in the western sky for over a month now. It appears too bright to be the planet Venus. Is there some sort of satelite up there?
Venus last night was unreal
Clear sky tonight. Can see Venus and Jupitar. So amazing!
Just glad the clouds from the past few days are gone. Jupiter and Venus very bright here in middle TN. Looking forward to the conjuction in March.
Have never seen this before.So amazing
Here is a link to a photo of this from tonight in NJ – http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=245742095503232&set=a.113900858687357.19197.113625355381574&type=1&theater
Certainly this evening the moon and Jupiter presented an extremely beautiful pictire.
At first, I thought that the planet Venus was a star, hanging very low in the sky under the moon and I was terrified! I am more than relieved to know that it is actually a planet!! Thanks!!- Scared-as-Hell
It’s a beautiful nite tonite! I’ts a little bit windy but the sky is just breathtaking!!!
i have shown Venus and Jupiter to my kids and enjoyed the clear view from India.awesome!!!!!
I just saw a HUGE “shooting star” or meteor in the southern sky…did anybody else see it???
I saw it also, but it did not seem to get reported. Read something about a astroid passing close. Looked more like a large meteor to me
We live in SE TX and the sky is very clear today after a beautiful day. The Moon, Jupiter and Venus are magnificent tonight!! We’ve been so cloudy lately we haven’t been able to see the night sky.
Fantastic view of Jupiter, the crescent Moon, and Venus tonight from Pacifica Ca. Through my telescope, I could actually see 3 moons orbiting Jupiter. Incredible! I love the night sky and the ecliptic runs right across the open sky in our backyard.
Me and my boyfriend saw the Cresent moon from Orlando, Florida area. However, it was at the bottom instead of on the left side. What a strange view. Has anyone seen this before?
Amazing view from bay area. Clear sky, lit with wonderful 2 planets along with other stars and the moon. Looked through the binoculars, could see orange-pink rings around both planets venus and jupter. Its right above us, can’t believe it !!
In response to Bonnie’s comment about the bright object seen for the past month. I have actually been watching this bright object for several years wondering what it is. It seems to be approaching closer than when I first noticed it. Just so you don’t think I am crazy. LOL I have shown this to dozens of people who at first think I am crazy but after several months and some even several years they too are wondering why it looks to be bigger, brighter, and closer. It always makes me wonder why these types of announcements are made about a visual on a planet but these postings aren’t up nearly as often as this object which is usually out every night even if cloudy you can see it shine through the cloud layer.
If anybody can explain or comment as to what I am seeing and why these postings about a planet visible are now and again but the object is there almost every night I would be greatly interested.
I even showed it to a commercial pilot friend who said without seeing it “it’s a planet” then after he saw it he stated ” I have no idea, weird “. Now he wont comment at all, even though I ask him several times a month when I see him. He just smiles and shrugs his shoulders.
I agree with Dave to have seen one planet, most likely jupiter for several months or may be over a year. It shined brightly at night. When I told my husband about the rings around it (ofcourse through binoculars), he thought I am making it up, but I hope other people could also see those. With 2 planets shining brightly above, the view is even better, its magnificient !!
I saw a huge meteor also. I am in western NC. It was around 9:30pm EST. It was a brilliant orange, but disappeared over the mountains before my husband could see it who was driving at the time.
Clear, cool San Diego night, perfect for viewing this spectacular sight. The crescent is showing on the bottom of the moon. I have never seen that before. Is it just my view of it?
From southeast Utah approaching Arizona, Venus looks like a supernova has been described to look like. Magnificent View. I wish I had more than just binoculars. Jupiter doesn’t look as bright as Venus from here but you can clearly see it also.
saw a strange sky sight west of galveston heading from north to the gulf on an downward incline a huge bright yellow streak that moved fairly quickly. ran to get camera to take video and caught part of it before it went behind clouds. anyone else see this or know what it could be? was at sunset, camera time was 6.53 pm cdt.
I seen venus. Venus was the brightest star in the sky under the moon. Then jupiter was above the moon. And if u really looked. Opposite of the moon was a golden star in the mists of a constellation. That was mars
I’m from San Diego and tonight the crescent was at the bottom of the moon ( U shape) and redish. I’ve never seen anything like that before. Almost looked like an eclipse.
I saw the first two days. Not much brighter, it was very close to the moon
its awe some but iwant more pic of this
So wonderful! Moon between Venus and Jupiter tonight! I’ve never seen them together like this. Just wow!
I am in West Yorkshire, UK. I can see two bright stars in the sky tonight absolutely clearly. Thanks to your explanation, I know what they are now. The sky is looking amazing. Shame, I haven’t got any binoculars or telescopes to view them better.
They look brilliant…especially through the bottom of a pint glass….cheers!! from cold but clear Barwell….yes, where the meteorite hit – Christmas Eve 1965…
The moon is a bottom crescent in Illinois as well. Tonight’s sky is a sight for sore eyes after all the rain. Beautiful! I still can’t find Mars though.
Beautiful I see this in Estonia