The city lights of Stockholm don’t outshine Venus and Jupiter when the duo meet in this celestial conjunction.
Skywatcher P-M Heden of The World at Night took this spectacular photo from Sweden’s capital Stockholm on March 11.
The two brightest dots in the upper right of the image are Venus and Jupiter. The pair met several times in March when both planets appeared closer to each other from earth, a phenomenon called a conjunction. To the left of the planets, a few stars from the constellations Taurus and Orion are still visible.
Although both planets are quite far from each other, they appear to be very close in the night sky, creating a conjunction.
Venus-Jupiter conjunctions are fairly special events, occurring roughly every 13 months. Experts said this year’s conjunction was especially stunning because the planets were visible together for so long and were so bright in the sky. [Amazing Photos of Venus and Jupiter]
Editor's note: If you have an amazing skywatching photo you'd like to share for a possible story or image gallery, please contact managing editor Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com.
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Nina Sen is a freelance writer and producer who covered night sky photography and astronomy for Space.com. She began writing and producing content for Space.com in 2011 with a focus on story and image production, as well as amazing space photos captured by NASA telescopes and other missions. Her work also includes coverage of amazing images by astrophotographers that showcase the night sky's beauty.