Conjunction Of Venus And Jupiter

In the western sky after sunset are two bright lights, brighter than any star. These are Venus and Jupiter. Venus is somewhat brighter than Jupiter. The two planets periodically come close to each other in the sky but the conjunctions alternate between in the evening after sunset, in the western sky, and in the morning before sunrise, in the eastern sky. Remember that the two planets are not really close to each other, it is just a line-of-sight effect as seen from Earth.

Less than a year ago, in August 2025, I posted "The Venus Clue". At that time there was a conjunction between the two in the eastern sky, before sunrise.

The following diagram illustrates what is happening. The inner blue circle represents the orbit of Venus, around the sun at the center. The middle green circle represents the orbit of Earth. The outer black circle represents the orbit of Jupiter. This is as if seen from above the Earth's north pole. The movement of the planets in orbit, as well as their rotation, is counterclockwise as indicated by the red arrow.

Last August, the planets were each at Position A, to the right of the diagram. The conjunction is shown by the straight line. The planets move faster in their orbits the closer they are to the sun and since then, Venus has completed more than a full orbit, Earth has completed most of an orbit and Jupiter has completed a fraction of an orbit. Venus and Jupiter are in conjunction once again, now in Position B at the left of the diagram, in the evening after sunset.

Because the Earth is rotating counterclockwise, and is orbiting the sun in the same direction, the forward direction in orbit will be seen before sunrise and the backward direction after sunset.

Here is a link to "The Venus Clue".

https://markmeeksideas.blogspot.com/2025/08/the-venus-clue.html?m=0