Jupiter is going for a few more meetings before disappearing from the night sky.
The Gas Giant will soon meet with the moon and Mercury separately in the night sky before March ends, providing sky-watchers with a beautiful but challenging spectacle to observe at nighttime.
Jupiter will not be seen in the night sky again until 2024 for its conjunction with Venus, per EarthSky.
Jupiter-Moon Meetup Details
Jupiter is on its way to make its exit from the night sky, according to Space.com. The Gas Giant will soon be lost in the sun's afterglow by the end of March, with it setting in the sky 70 minutes after the sun goes down on Mar. 22.
However, during these 70 minutes, Jupiter will meet the moon, which will be in its new moon phase by then. While it is widely accepted that the moon disappears from the night sky during its new moon phase, experts state that the moon isn't completely absent while in such a phase.
They explain that the moon is visible during its new moon phase, but only barely - a narrow slit of the moon appears in the night sky. This narrow slit in the night sky allows people to locate the moon even during the new moon phase.
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However, that won't be a problem on Mar. 22, as Jupiter will be visible to the lower right side of the moon on that day. To find the two celestial bodies, people should wait half an hour after the sun sets and search low above the western horizon to see the new moon hanging to the upper left of Jupiter.
People shouldn't expect a large sliver of the moon to appear at this time as only 2% of the moon will appear in the night sky at this time, as the moon is transitioning from its new moon phase to its waxing crescent moon phase at that time.
For this celestial meetup, binoculars are preferable to a telescope.
Jupiter-Mercury Meetup Details
Mercury, the smallest of the planets in our solar system and messenger of the gods will also meet with Jupiter in the night sky on Mar. 27 before it disappears. According to Starwalk, Mercury will pass within 1°16' of Jupiter as they meet in the constellation Pisces.
To watch this meetup happening, people should look outside 20 minutes after sunset and look due west. If the weather permits, Mercury and Jupiter will appear next to each other in the night sky.
However, this meetup is considerably more difficult to watch than Jupiter's meeting with the moon. Both planets may be challenging to find through the bright evening twilight, and people will need to have an unobstructed view to watch it happen.
For those unaware, Mercury's brightness is at magnitude -1.4 while Jupiter's is at magnitude -2.1 - still bright for the naked eye to see, but not bright enough to make them easily discernable in the evening twilight.
To find this meetup, people should sweep low along the western horizon with good binoculars before using the naked eye to find them.
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