A planetary conjunction occurs when two celestial planets appear near one another in the sky.
The moon and Venus, the brightest planet in our solar system, lined up in conjunction in a rare occurrence in the skies, on Friday. The spectacle was witnessed throughout the world and many people were left simply amazed to witness the event.
Until Venus progressively moved away from the Moon and became hidden behind it, the heavenly bodies were visible in the same field of vision. Even though they were kilometres apart, the two aligned in an almost symmetrical path. A planetary conjunction occurs when two celestial planets appear near one another in the sky.
American space agency NASA also took to Twitter to inform the users of the same. They also urged people to share their clicks of the rare event. "Look westward to find the Moon as a beautiful slim crescent this evening after sunset, hanging just below blazing-bright Venus. Tomorrow evening, look west again to spot the Moon once more, this time shining from above Venus," they said in the tweet.
The two celestial bodies are just in the same line of sight for onlookers, creating the illusion that they are becoming closer to one another, the Astronomical Society of India Outreach and Education explained.
"Venus and Moon will be involved in an event known as conjunction when they would "appear" to come very close to each other to an observer from planet. In effect they would be along the same line of sight (but still far away from each other). Enjoy this celestial event!" they said on Twitter.
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