What are the two very bright stars in the evening sky?
They are the planets Venus (the brighter one) and Jupiter. And they are visible to the entire world, not just the US. Venus has been bright in the early evening sky for about a month (and will continue to be visible for another few months). Jupiter has been bright in the night sky since opposition in July (it is getting closer to the sun from our perspective so it won’t be visible much longer). Both are visible for most of each year, just not always this close. They’ve been fairly close to each other (and very bright) for about 2 weeks, getting closer each night as they both move in their orbits. The night of November 30 is when they were at their closest, and for the next few weeks they will be moving farther apart until they are lost in the glare of the sun. They were that close to each other and that bright in February, but they were in the pre-dawn sky and most people never noticed. Such close encounters of the 2 planets occurs about once a year, but often they are too close to the
