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Venus and Jupiter to Form a Close Conjunction on June 9

The pairing will appear about 1.5–1.6° apart low in western twilight, an optical alignment bright enough to see with the naked eye that has prompted organised public viewings.

Overview

  • Venus and Jupiter will reach their closest apparent separation of roughly 1.5–1.6° on Tuesday night, June 9, creating a bright, easy-to-see pairing low toward the western horizon shortly after sunset.
  • Nehru Planetarium in New Delhi will host a free public sky‑watching session at Teen Murti Bhawan from 7:30 PM on June 9 with viewing expected until about 8:30 PM subject to weather.
  • Observers are advised to look 45 minutes to two hours after sunset from a site with an unobstructed western horizon and to use binoculars or a small telescope to fit both planets in one field of view.
  • The closeness is a line‑of‑sight effect: the planets remain hundreds of millions of kilometres apart, with Venus appearing roughly seven times brighter than Jupiter from Earth.
  • The conjunction is visible over several nights around the peak, Mercury will join the low‑west scene in mid‑June, and a daylight occultation of Venus by the Moon is forecast for June 17 so viewers should follow safety guidance before using optics near the Sun.