Monday night, hide Moon, Jupiter, Venus behind your thumb!

Calcutta News.Net
Saturday 29th November, 2008 (IANS)

When the Sun goes down Monday evening, step outside to watch the best sky show of the year. Jupiter, Venus and Moon - three of the brightest objects up there at night - will be closest to each other then.

Jupiter and Venus have been rapidly coming towards each other for the last few days, a phenomenon that will not be visible against till 2012. And soon they will have the Moon for company.

'Look towards the southwest and you will see something very pretty - Venus and Jupiter beaming together through the twilight. The two closely-spaced planets are about to be joined by the slender crescent Moon for a spectacular three-way conjunction,' Nehru Planetarium director N. Rathnashree told IANS.

The three brightest objects in the night sky will be gathered so tightly together that you can hide them all behind your thumb held at arm's length.

The Nehru Planetarium will put out telescopes at Old Fort in the capital.

'Although clear to the naked eye, a small telescope will make the evening even more enjoyable. We will be putting up some telescopes at Old Fort in the evening for people to have a clearer look of the celestial triangle,' Rathnashree said.

'It is a rare activity. The winter sky is very clear and you can have a spectacular look of the celestial activity,' said Ajay Talwar, a member of the Amateur Astronomer Association.

The celestial triangle will be visible from all parts of the world, even from lightly polluted cities.

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