Jupiter and Venus meet here

Look for! Across the country on Wednesday night, Jupiter and Venus can be seen in a beautiful union in the sky.

In recent days, VG has received a number of tips about two eye-catching lights in the sky at sunset: some think they could be UFOs or space stations – or maybe they’re Chinese “spy balloons”?

– I was on my way out, and I also noticed that there were two bright lights in the sky. They looked like stars, but were much brighter. I thought it might be a space station or something, says VG tipster Espen.

But the two lights, as we wrote on Tuesday, are Jupiter and Venus.

– It’s very aesthetic, it’s very close tonight, says astrophysicist Håkon Dahle from the University of Oslo.

Although it appears that the planets are close together, this is not the case:

– In fact, we are talking about a distance of hundreds of millions of kilometers. The planets appear close because we see them in the same line of sight, the astrophysicist explains.

Venus and Jupiter are among the brightest objects in the night sky, Dahl says, with the exception of the Moon.

– These planets are very bright, so it is not surprising that they are noticed. If the surrounding stars are dimmer by comparison, that could be due to the brightness of the planets or light pollution from cities, Dahle says.

The police also received several calls about the two flashing lights:

Astrophysicist Håkon Dahle says the planets can be observed well from all over Norway until around 8 p.m.

– If you look west, you’ll be able to see them well from all over the country! Dahl says it will be two years until the next time they perform in the evening sky together.

– If you use small binoculars, you’ll be able to see the four largest moons of Jupiter, he adds.

If you’ve ever seen a mysterious light phenomenon in the sky and wondered what it could be, you can Norwegian Space Center help page be helpful in finding the answer.

Watch a video of NASA shooting close-ups of Venus here: