Posted on 06/12/2026 1:14:58 PM PDT by MtnClimber
Explanation: To see Venus and Jupiter together this month, you won't need binoculars or even a telescope. Just look up after sunset and you'll find them emerging as the sky grows dark near the western horizon. In fact, on June 9 the two brightest planets were in close conjunction, separated on the sky by less than 2 degrees from our perspective. Since (brighter) inner planet Venus orbits the Sun faster than outer planet Jupiter, it catches up with and passes the outer planet along the ecliptic roughly every 13 months. But every three years or so their resulting conjunction can be viewed far enough from the Sun to be easily seen in Earth's twilight skies. On June 9, the two celestial beacon's close "cosmic kiss" was captured here next to two remaining standing stones at the cove within a 4,000 year old stone circle at Avebury, UK. Larger than Stonehenge, the Avebury henge and stone circle complex is also recognized as one of the most significant neolithic ceremonial sites on planet Earth.
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🪐 🌟 🌌 🍔
That’s a fabulous photo.
Beautiful.
Indeed. I did manage to see it Wed. night. It was beautiful in the evening twilight. Twilight is such a peaceful time, such a beautiful time of night.
This is such a simple picture. This is such a PROFOUND photograph!
Two rock monoliths seem to be sharing a moment together as they watch the assent of the planet named for the Goddess of Love while the largest planet in our solar system seems to be following her like a love-sick puppy dog!
THIS photograph depicts a timeless LOVE story.
Sir, you are a GENIUS!
You can see Mercury just below the to the right. It’s much dimmer and sets faster. Directly above Mercury are the stars: Castor and Pollux of Gemini.
Beautiful pic! Was to Avebury Circle back in 2001 and it was absolutely awesome. The tour guide gave us devining rods to walk through the stones, there is a magnetic field and the rods did turn. A wonderful memory. As for the the planetary display, got to see that line up a few years ago here in FL. The local environmental tech school has a dock that goes out over the water, no abient lights. They had telescopes set up but I brought my own, teeheehee, quite a few people were there. Yes, you could see it without a telescope but it was a nice experience using one.
“Yes, you could see it without a telescope but it was a nice experience using one.”
After I got my telescope decades ago that evening the FIRST thing I did was to check out JUPITER. OMG!!! I saw 4 moons! I was BLOWN AWAY. This was NOTHING compared to my reaction to seeing the RINGS of SATURN from my backyard for the FIRST time. What impressed me was how FAST Saturn moved. You lock the tripod down to stabilize the image and you realize very soon you ALMOST have to manually track the planet to keep it in the eyepiece!
I had seen the rings through the telescope at the University of Arizona Campus Observatory. You don’t actually look through the eyepiece of the telescope anymore, rather you gaze at a television monitor hooked up to the scope. A very shallow, hollow experience.
But BABY, this was MY telescope, MY backyard! I wrote the date in sharpie on the tripod.
Mic drop!
(Sorry, was out of town) Awesome and LOL on the sharpie! My telescope was given to me by a dear friend (now since past) many years ago but I love the thing. Had it set up on my back deck for a bit but I’m a buffett for no-see-em’s, LOL, so had to stop that.
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