Conjunction of Venus and Mercury March 2018

Conjunction Background: Occasionally, two or more objects meet up with each other in our sky. Astronomers use the word conjunction to describe these meetings. The word conjunction comes from Latin, meaning to join together.
In astronomy, a conjunction occurs when two astronomical objects or spacecraft appear to be close to each other in the sky.
This means they have either the same right ascension or the same ecliptic longitude, usually as observed from Earth.
When two objects always appear close to the ecliptic—such as two planets, the Moon and a planet, or the Sun and a planet—this fact implies an apparent close approach between the objects as seen in the sky.
A related word, appulse, is the minimum apparent separation in the sky of two astronomical objects.
Conjunctions involve either two objects in the Solar System or one object in the Solar System and a more distant object, such as a star. A conjunction is an apparent phenomenon caused by the observer's perspective: the two objects involved are not actually close to one another in space.
Conjunctions between two bright objects close to the ecliptic, such as two bright planets, can be seen with the naked eye.
You can keep up to date with upcoming conjunctions by visiting 'Earthsky.org'

Description: Brilliant Evening Star Venus and bright Mercury shine during the evening twilight on the evening of March 3.
Both planets are emerging from their superior conjunctions. Mercury’s conjunction is February 17; Venus was January 9.
Their actual conjunction was March 5, when they were only a little more than one degree apart. That's about the width of your little finger at arm's length.
Venus and Mercury remained close enough together on the sky's dome to fit inside a typical binocular field of 5 degrees for the first three weeks of March 2018.

Conjunction of Venus and Mercury

Imaging Details

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