Jupiter and Venus came extremely close during the conjunction.
The recent conjunction of Jupiter and Venus triggered emergency calls in a town in the US, prompting local authorities to reassure the public that there is no need to be worried. The Stanislaus County sheriff's office posted an update on social media asking people to stop calling 911 and report the event. The two brightest planets in the sky appeared closets during the conjunction, which was at its peak on March 1. The planets were just 400 million miles apart, according to USA Today.
The two planets appeared like dots in the sky, which startled a lot of people in Stanislaus County. Many of them started calling 911 after which the sheriff's office posted update on its social media pages.
"If you are seeing these lights in the sky, dispatch has received multiple calls regarding this. Do not be alarmed as NASA said that Jupiter and Venus would appear in the western sky on March 1st. There is no reason to report this," it said.
The calls was made as users were puzzled by the two "non-moving lights".
According to a lieutenant who spoke with The Modesto Bee, the social media posts from the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office helped decrease the number of calls received regarding the bright planets.
Throughout February, the two planets were aligned with the moon and were inching close to each other. According to NASA, the conjunction between the two planets occurs frequently in the solar system because "the planets orbit around the Sun in approximately the same plane - the ecliptic plane - and thus trace similar paths across our sky".
This conjunction was such a treat to people that they couldn't help but capture the rare occurrence on their devices and share it online.