Skip links
Skip to Content
play
Live
Show navigation menu
Navigation menu
News
Show more news sections
Middle East
Africa
Asia
US & Canada
Latin America
Europe
Asia Pacific
Israel War on Gaza
Features
Opinion
Video
More
Show more sections
Economy
Ukraine war
Coronavirus
Climate Crisis
Investigations
Interactives
In Pictures
Science & Technology
Sport
Podcasts
play
Live
Click here to search
search
In Pictures
Gallery
Jupiter and Venus share the stage
A rare positioning of planets Venus (left) and Jupiter (right) and the crescent moon of the Earth provides a 'smiley' effect that has captivated world audiences [AFP]
Published On 2 Dec 2008
2 Dec 2008
facebook
twitter
whatsapp
copylink
Striking planetary groupings have held special meaning to ancient astronomers [EPA]
Astronomers refer to this rare phenomenon as an "occultation," taken from the Latin word occultare, which means "to conceal" [AFP]
The next time the three will be as close and visible as this week will be in 2052 [EPA]
A three-day-old crescent Moon with the planets Jupiter and Venus are seen close together over the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem [EPA]
The three celestial objects come together from time to time, but often they are too close to the sun or unite at a time when they aren't so visible [EPA]
The alignment of Venus, Jupiter and the moon formed a smiley over Beirut's landmark Mohammed al-Amin mosque [AFP]
The moon is the brightest, closest and smallest of the three and is 405,554km away. Venus, the second brightest, closest and smallest, is 151.278 million km away. And big Jupiter is 869.045 million km away [AFP]