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Don't miss Tuesday night's 'double star'

Sky-gazers can see the double star by looking to the west-northwest just after the sun sets.

By Brooks Hays

WASHINGTON, June 30 (UPI) -- Venus and Jupiter are two planets, separated by 67 million miles. But tonight, they will appear right next to each other in a phenomenon astronomers call a "double star" moment.

"On June 30th, Venus and Jupiter will appear so close together ... that they'll look like a tight, brilliant double star in the evening sky," Kelly Beatty explained in Sky and Telescope magazine. "You'll be able to cover both with the tip of an outstretched pinky finger. Amazing stuff!"

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The two celestial bodies have been slowly converging over the last several weeks. At the beginning of June, they appeared 20 degrees apart in the night sky. On Tuesday night, they will be separated by just a third of a degree.

Sky-gazers can see the double star by looking to the west-northwest just after the sun sets. Another star -- Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo -- will appear just to the upper left of the converging planets.

Astronomers say the configuration is similar to the Star of Bethlehem described in the biblical story of Joseph and Mary's journey to Bethlehem. Researchers say a similar series of planetary and stellar conjunctions happened on June 17, 2 B.C., but the circumstances don't align with the biblical timeline.

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Though Jupiter and Venus will begin to separate and drift toward the horizon in July, they will converge during one more impressive celestial event (before they disappear until October 26).

"As a grand finale, the planets will be joined by the razor-thin crescent moon on July 18th," explains National Geographic's Andrew Fazekas. "The tight celestial grouping will span no more than 4 degrees -- less than the width of the three middle fingers held at arm's length."

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