Hyderabad: Over the past week, two bright non-twinkling star-like objects are being seen on the western horizon after sunset. But not many are aware of the fact that they are actually planets – Jupiter and Venus.
The one that is brighter and closer to the horizon is Venus, and the one above it is Jupiter.
According to N Raghu Nandan Kumar, Director of the Planetary Society of India, both the planets are inching closer in the sky, and can be witnessed till March 2. And after March 2, the same planets can be seen moving away from each other as days pass on.
“The two planets can be seen with the naked eye as they are considered brightest planets in the solar system,” he said. On 19 February 2023, Venus was at 2,124,289,76km (21.24 crore km) from Earth and Jupiter was at 84,97,15,905 (84.97 crore km) from the earth.
Though these planets appear close in the skies to the naked eye, in reality they are at a distance of 64,14,44,000 km (64.14 crore km) from each other.