Colombo, August 14 (Daily Mirror) - Sri Lankans will have the opportunity to observe a Mars-Jupiter conjunction in the sky tomorrow morning, the Astronomy Department of the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies said.

They said Mars and Jupiter will appear so close to each other on Wednesday that they will look like a "double planet" in the early morning hours.

A planetary conjunction occurs when two or more plants appear close to each other. This is really an optical illusion, as the plants aren't physically close.

Mars and Jupiter will be more than 350 million miles (575 million kilometres) apart in their respective orbits.

Even though moon conjunctions are common in the night sky, a conjunction between two planets is a very rare phenomenon.

One such rare conjunction between Mars and Jupiter will occur today (14) between 8.57 p.m. and 9.51 p.m. But during that time, the angular distance between Mars and Jupiter is less than one degree and it is about 18' 21''.

But since Mars and Jupiter have not risen from the horizon during that period, Sri Lankans will be able to observe the conjunction after 2 a.m. tomorrow (15).

By that time, the angular difference between Mars and Jupiter will increase to 19' 29''. People will be able to observe this phenomenon better through a telescope or binoculars.

However, this type of conjunction between Mars and Jupiter will occur in the year 2033.