A celestial collision of two planets

1 December 2008, kygazers will see a "conjunction" of the crescent moon with two bright planets -- venus and jupiter -- early next week, the Johannesburg Planetarium said on Wednesday. In the early evening of Monday December 1, go out as soon as it starts getting dark and look west, where the sun sets. The planetarium's Claire Flanagan explained: "Look for the thin crescent moon. The very bright "evening star" just to the left of the moon is the planet venus. The other bright "star" below to the right of the moon is jupiter." This will be visible for about two hours after the sun has set, for one evening only. "If you watch closely enough, you will notice the moon moving eastwards in its orbit around the earth -- the gap between jupiter and the moon will increase slightly," she added. No equipment is necessary and it can be seen even from brightly-lit cities. Meanwhile, diarise January 26 for a partial eclipse of the sun. Limpopo will have a 25 percent eclipse, and Cape Town 65 percent. The eclipse starts at about 7.15am and ends at 9.30am. Picture. Adrian de Kock