Talk:2012 Venus–Jupiter–Mercury conjunction

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This is a live event occurring at this time, continuing throughout march of 2012. The first event, Feb 25 2012 will present a Moon, Venus, Jupiter conjunction viewable at sunset in the west. March 13 will bring Venus and Jupiter close enough together to see each in actual vision. At this time 5 celestial signs will be in conjunction.- http://science.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2012/02/17/skymap_13mar12.gif --Jeffrey mcmahan (talk) 05:42, 23 February 2012 (UTC) http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/visible-planets-tonight-mars-jupiter-venus-saturn-mercury[reply]

http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/pictorial-guide-to-venus-jupiter-conjunction-in-february-march-2012 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jeffrey mcmahan (talk • contribs) 10:03, 23 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

http://www.space.com/14670-jupiter-venus-moon-alignment-viewing-tips.html

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Jeffrey mcmahan (talk • contribs) 22:36, 25 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

what does this article need?

http://earthsky.org/tonight/best-venusjupiter-conjunction-in-years-mid-march-2012

States the date of conjunction at Mar 15 2012. Also describes the event being observable from the northern hemisphere. And the article at earthsky describing a similar event in 2013 in May. Any help would be welcome. J Jeffrey mcmahan (talk) 04:29, 4 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The event was an apparent grouping of three planets in the sky. A conjunction involves two bodies only and takes place when they reach the same right ascension or ecliptic longitude. So conjunction isn't the right word to describe the grouping. The conjunction was between Venus and Jupiter only - on 15 March 2012 - and Mercury was not, strictly speaking, involved in a conjunction. The article also calls the grouping a triple conjunction, but a triple conjunction occurs when two planets reach conjunction with each other three separate times within a period of months - it doesn't involve three planets. I am using astronomical definitions here - there may be differences in definition between astronomy and astrology. If that is the case, there would be a strong case for splitting the "Conjunction (astronomy and astrology)" article (which links to this article) into two separate articles "Conjunction (astronomy)" and "Conjunction (astrology)" — Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.183.128.94 (talk) 16:38, 8 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]