It seems that Venus and Jupiter, the two brightest planets in our solar system, have been moving toward each other for more than a month in the southwestern sky at dusk. This phenomenon will reach its climax in a few days, as the two planets are drawn closer together.

In addition, this evening, a viewer will observe the crescent moon just above the horizon, at the planets’ lower right. Tomorrow evening, the two planets will be slightly closer together, and the moon will be hanging higher and nearer them. Monday night brings the peak of the show, as the two planets remain as close as ever, and the moon will form a compact triangle with them.

Of course, starting Tuesday, the two planets and the moon will begin to pull away from each other. Astronomers say that, even if the planets look very close, they are actually very far away: the moon is 252,000 miles away, Venus is 370 times farther than the moon, at 94 million miles and Jupiter is nearly six times as far away as Venus, at 540 million miles. In light years, the data would look like this: the moon is 1.4 light-seconds distant, Venus is 8.4 light-minutes distant and Jupiter is 42-light-minutes away. Not so close, eh?

The next time Venus, Jupiter and the moon will get together for a night out is 2010. Unfortunately, they won’t be as clearly visible for as long as they will be this year. The next time this event will be just like Monday, we’ll be approximately 44 years older, on November the 18th, 2052.

The event should be visible with the naked eye, especially since it’s a clear evening on Monday. The viewers will have to walk outside at about 6 p.m. and look toward the southwest sky. By 7:30, the planets will have passed below the horizon.