Venus and Jupiter had an excellent conjunction in March 2012, which mirrored that of March 1988 (almost exactly 24 years earlier, three 8-year Venus cycles and two 12-year Jupiter cycles), and they followed this up by Venus undergoing inferior conjunction and transit in June, while Jupiter passed behind the Sun (superior conjunction), followed by this near conjunction in Taurus.  From about June 28 until July 5, they were less than 5° apart, which is considered to be an *appulse*.  Venus is magnitude -4.44 while Jupiter is magnitude -2.16 and 9°46' away from Venus.  Unannotated image, Planets only labeled.