Explanation:
Venus, Mercury, and Saturn
wandered close together
in western evening skies last week.
On Saturnday,
June 25, astronomer R. Jay GaBany recorded
this snapshot of their eye-catching planetary conjunction,
from historic Lick Observatory
on Mt. Hamilton,
California, USA.
The view looks toward the Pacific shortly after sunset
with the lights of San Jose and the southern San Francisco
Bay area in the foreground.
Of course, Venus is
the brightest of the trio.
Mercury is nearby on the right
and Saturn is below and left,
closest to the horizon.
Farther to the right of the planetary triangle are
Pollux and Castor,
twin
stars of Gemini, with
Regulus,
bright star
of the constellation Leo, at the very upper left corner of the
picture.
In the
coming days, Venus and Mercury remain close,
while Saturn continues to drop below them, toward the horizon.
