Except for a brief span during especially favorable Mars oppositions, the two brightest planets in the night sky are Jupiter and Venus - and this morning they sit side by side, separated by a scant 33'. That means you can see both worlds together in a small telescope running at moderate magnification. But more importantly, they'll be hard to miss by anyone awake at dawn who takes a moment to glance up at the sky. Expect friends and neighbors to ask, "What were those two bright stars I saw?" The planetary pair were at their closest the previous morning (April 30th), but this is a new month and it's off to a great start. Although Venus vastly outshines Jupiter (magnitude -4.1 versus -2.1), it's not for nothing the latter is known as a gas giant. Big Jove's disk is double the size of its Cytherean neighbor. And for all you Mars fans, you'll have to wait until 2035 before the Red Planet once again displaces Jupiter as the second-brightest planet.
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