Watch Charlestown's Sky tonight

Venus and Jupiter put on a show

This is the way Venus and Jupiter should look in the sky about 90 minutes
after sunset (they won't come with labels, but they're easy to spot)

By Will Collette

The National Weather Service forecast for tonight is for a clear sky so, if you go out after our new Daylight Savings Time dark, you should be able to see something very cool. The planets Venus and Jupiter are very closely aligned in the western sky, easily visible and very striking to see.

Venus stands out like a bright beacon, brighter than any object other than the Moon, and very close to its left – just the width of a few full Moons – is Jupiter, also shining brilliantly.

A close alignment like this is rare and is almost startling to see. Last night, they were wonderful to see. On Monday night, they should appear as though they are side-by-side, but the weather forecast is for clouds and the chance of showers. And a thunderstorm emanating from the Town Council meeting on Monday night (7 PM at the Charlestown Elementary School) may also impede viewing.

These great views should last into the week. With a good pair of binoculars, you should be able to see the four largest moons of Jupiter lined up on either side of the planet.

For sky-watching techies, Venus is shining at magnitude -4.3 and Jupiter at -2.1. According to the odd mathematics of the magnitude scale, that means Venus is shining 8 times brighter than Jupiter.

In viewing their alignment, it seems as through there is only the width of a couple of full moons separately them. That's an optical illusion. In fact, there is room between them to fit SIX full moons.