                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2026 June 14
   A sunset sky is shown in four vertical bands. Two bright planets appear
     getting closer together from left to right. The dates of the images
     appear at the bottom. Please see the explanation for more detailed
                                information.

                        10 Days of Venus and Jupiter
                   Image Credit & Copyright: Aditya Pawar

   Explanation: Venus and Jupiter may have caught your attention lately.
   The recent close conjunction of the two brightest planets in recent
   evening skies has been hard to miss. With Jupiter at the top, starting
   on May 30 and ending on June 8, their close approach was chronicled
   daily, left to right, in the featured panels from Maharashtra, India.
   Near the western horizon, the evening sky colors and exposures used for
   each panel depend on the local conditions near sunset. At their closest
   on June 9, the celestial pair appeared to be only about three times the
   width of a full moon apart. Of course, on that date, the two planets
   were physically separated by over 600 million kilometers in their
   orbits around the Sun. In the coming days, Jupiter will slowly settle
   into the sunset glare, but Venus will continue to move farther from the
   Sun in the western sky to excel in its current role as the brilliant
   evening star.

              Gallery: Venus - Jupiter Conjunction of 2026 June
                    Tomorrow's picture: triple Sun shock
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

