Overview

• CENAP director Hansjürgen Köhler says calls about drones and searchlights came from observers mistaking Venus and Jupiter in conjunction for unidentified objects.
• The planets reached their closest apparent separation on 12 August and were predicted to appear exactly one above the other on 13 August, with Venus below Jupiter.
• Inquiries to the national UFO reporting center came from Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz and Baden-Württemberg, as well as Bavaria, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schleswig-Holstein and Niedersachsen.
• Although they seem adjacent in the sky, Venus orbits about 108 million kilometers from the Sun while Jupiter is roughly 778 million kilometers away, creating an optical illusion.
• Skywatchers can look forward to another striking dawn display on 20 August when a slender crescent moon joins the bright planetary pair.