Week of February 19-25, 2023

One of the most frequent questions I've received in recent weeks is about those two bright "stars" shining in the southwestern sky at dusk. Some folks have even noticed that they seem to be approaching each other from week to week.

Well, these aren't "stars" at all; they're planets — the two brightest in all the heavens — and they are gearing up to put on quite a show as February comes to a close.

The brighter of the two is Venus, a world the same diameter and mass as our own Earth. You may recall that last month it passed rather close to the ringed planet Saturn, and soon it will pass by the giant planet Jupiter. Jupiter is usually the second-brightest planet in the sky, but when it lies near Venus it appears rather faint by comparison!

Why planets appear to approach and pass one another is quite simple. These worlds, along with our Earth, are continually orbiting the sun. As we move through space we view them in ever-changing positions and they appear to drift independently among the more distant (and "fixed") stars.

On the evening of Wednesday, March 1, these two planets will appear only half a degree apart, and they will form a bright "double star" in our southwestern sky at dusk. Of course, they will only appear along the same line of sight; on that evening the two will actually be separated by nearly 410 million miles.

This will be a great time to aim a low-powered telescope in their direction since both will appear in the same field of view. Before that day comes, however, another solar system body will enter the scene: the moon.

At dusk on Tuesday, Feb. 21, the moon may be tough to spot, but if you have a very low horizon below Venus, you can scan the area with binoculars during dusk and you might be able to catch a glimpse.

If you miss it, don't worry. The following night you'll easily see a thicker and brighter crescent moon complete with a full disk of "Earthshine" — light reflecting onto the lunar dark side from the Earth itself — lying just to the left of Jupiter.

Aim binoculars toward this pair and you'll be stunned by how three-dimensional the scene appears. While this is purely an optical illusion, it sure does produce a pretty picture.

And speaking of pretty pictures, this is a great time to take photos. You don't need fancy or expensive equipment; just a camera and tripod — even a smartphone will do fine. You'll find that zooming in a bit will produce a much better shot, though.

If you shoot half an hour or so after sunset, you can probably trust the automatic settings of your camera or phone. If not, try setting it to ISO 100 or 200 and shooting 1/3 of a second or so at f/8. Unless you're using an automatic mode, you'll need to adjust settings as you go since the light changes rapidly at dusk.

Enjoy this week's planetary sky show, and please email me if you produce some nice photos. I'd love to share in your success!

Visit Dennis Mammana at dennismammana.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.