Eddie Gonzales Jr. – MessageToEagle.com – Today you have a unique opportunity to watch a rare cosmic event from your home. Two of the great beauties of the night sky, Venus and the Pleiades will embrace in a cosmic hug.
This spectacular conjunction happens only once every eight years, and this year is a good one. It will be best seen on the evenings of Friday and Saturday, April 3 and 4, 2020.
Venus approaching the Pleiades on March 31st, photographed by astronomy professor Jimmy Westlake of Stagecoach, Colorado.
The Venus-Pleiades alignment can be viewed from anywhere in the world. The cosmic phenomenon will take place the entire weekend and can be viewed through a special live stream event.
The Pleiades is an open star cluster that’s also known as Messier 45 and the Seven Sisters. It is located within the Taurus constellation and is one of the star clusters that are nearest to Earth.
The conjunction between Venus and Pleiades is an annual event. However, even though this happens regularly, the closest alignment between these two cosmic bodies only occurs in April and every eight years. The last time Venus was spotted within the cluster during a conjunction was in 2012.
This beautiful alignment can be admired with the naked eye, but if you have access to binoculars and telescopes you can see it even better.
Those who won’t be able to witness the rare event due to their location may still watch it through a live stream event that will be hosted by the Virtual Telescope in Italy.
According to the head of the Virtual Telescope Project, astrophysicist Gianluca Masi, the live stream event will be available worldwide.
Venus and the Pleiades in April Digital Illustration Credit & Copyright: Fred Espenak (Bifrost Astronomical Observatory)
The event also aims to provide people who are stuck at home due to quarantine protocols triggered by the COVID-19 outbreak an opportunity to catch the rare alignment of Venus and Pleiades.
“To bring some joy from this cosmic show to people worldwide, often quarantined to limit the dissemination of COVID-19, the Virtual Telescope will share this celestial treasure with everyone, offering a live view covering the climax of this cosmic hug between Venus and the Pleiades,” Masi told Express.
Written by Eddie Gonzales Jr. – MessageToEagle.com Staff