June 17, 2026 at – 8:40 p.m.
A striking conjunction lights up this Wednesday night. The astronomy disseminator, Rodrigo Servín, explains that, although the stars seem close together, they are separated by millions of kilometers.
This Wednesday we find an astronomical postcard. A series of photographs captured by ABC show an imposing planetary conjunction: the moon appeared near the Venus planets and Jupiter.
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Despite the presence of some low clouds, the phenomenon could be seen with the naked eye. In communication with ABC, Rodrigo Servina well-known disseminator of astronomy in Paraguay, explained that, although from our terrestrial perspective the stars they seem to be stuckspatial reality is very different.
Servin pointed out that this Wednesday night represents the moment of maximum visual approach of the conjunction. As the hours pass and starting tomorrow, the celestial bodies they will start to distance themselves before the eyes of observers.
“They are millions of miles away from each other. From Earth we see it as if they were glued together by a optical effect of our observation pointnothing more than that. Tomorrow everyone continues their path in the month and the position will change,” the specialist clarified to demystify that there is a real closeness in space.
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Servin commented that These phenomena are cyclical and common. In fact, he revealed that the night before (Tuesday) there was a conjunction with Mercurywhich went unnoticed because said planet hides very quickly on the horizon once it gets dark.
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A curious fact that the expert’s analysis left is how the display changes of the conjunction depending on the geographical location of the observer. Although the phenomenon occurs on same day for all the inhabitants of the Earththe landscape changes according to the hemisphere.
- In Paraguay, Southern Hemisphere: The arrangement of the crescent Moon next to the planets forms a silhouette similar to a smile or “happy face.”
- In the Northern Hemisphere: The phenomenon is observed in an inverted manner, more like an “eyebrow” or downward structure.
“Before the people I didn’t pay much attention to these events. Today my phone is full of messages from people surprised by how beautiful the sky looks. It’s great that we are looking up again“Servín reflected.
