Tampa Bay area residents will be treated to a striking celestial spectacle at the end of June — a close conjunction of Venus and Jupiter, the two brightest planets in the sky. As a free service to local residents, the St. Petersburg College observatory will be open to the public (weather permitting) between 8:45 and 10:30 p.m. on Monday June 29, Tuesday June 30, and Wednesday July 1. In addition to seeing Venus and Jupiter, visitors will be treated to telescope views of Saturn and the moon.

Presently, Venus and Jupiter appear as brilliant stars in the western sky shortly after sunset. These planets will rapidly draw closer to one another on successive evenings, culminating in a beautiful conjunction on the evening of June 30. At that time, Venus and Jupiter will be separated by less than the width of the full moon. The planets will pass so close to one another that both will be visible simultaneously in a telescope – a rare occurrence.

The proximity of these brilliant planets has already generated numerous inquiries to SPC’s planetarium.

The SPC planetarium and observatory are located in the Natural Science Building on the Gibbs campus, on 69^th Street at 5^th Avenue North. For information about other free astronomy events, visit our website at www.spcollege.edu/planetarium, or call 727-341-4320.