Celestial Conjunction

December 1, 2008 I was fortunate enough to witness a rare celestial conjunction of the three brightest objects in the night sky.

Jupiter, Venus and the crescent moon aligned. I had a great view but alas didn’t have my camera handy. I post a picture taken in the Moroccan sky from CNN.

Events like this aren’t significant except to remind the viewer how small we earthlings really are in the scheme of things.

The next time this will occur is November 18, 2052. That likely leaves me out, since I would be 103 on that date.

The alignment is actually an optical illusion. The moon is 400,000 kilometres from Earth, Venus is 100 times further, and Jupiter more than 1,500 times further.