An interesting conjunction of Venus and Saturn on the 1st of July 2007

 

Any clear evening when we look up at the sky, we may find a profusion of stars if we are away from polluted cities. We would see just a handful of stars if we are viewing from cities like Delhi , with a lot of dust and light pollution. Whether we look up at the sky from a village or a city, what we normally do not see, is two or more bright objects very close together in the sky. Sometimes, that does happen. It happens when two bright planets move close to each other as viewed from the Earth.
 
Planets are those objects in the sky whose positions change regularly against the background of the distant stars. Relative to distant stars they normally appear to move west to east, sometimes they reverse this direction of motion, and then reverse it again, making loops in the sky. During all these movements it is very likely that any two planets may appear relatively close to each other in the sky. Such events, called conjunctions, are routine – not too frequent and not too rare a celestial happening.
 
A very interesting conjunction is ahead – on the 1st of July, when Venus and Saturn will appear close to each other. Very close, close enough to be seen together through a moderate telescope.  It is that view which will be interesting – seeing Venus in half phase and Saturn with its rings together, through a widefield telescope.

This close pairing of Venus and Saturn would be seen from all of India and the rest of the world. One can appreciate the planetary movements better, by looking out for these two planets sometime before, during, and sometime after the occultation. On the 24th of June, for instance, Venus and Saturn are a little less than five degrees apart in the sky – hold out the outstretched hand against the sky – width of three fingers will be about the angular distance between Venus and Saturn on this day. On the 29th of June they will be about 1.5 degrees apart – about the width of the forefinger held against the sky.

And finally on the 1st of July they will be about 0.65 degrees apart a little wider than the little finger held against the sky – close enough for two bright objects to be, to give us a sense that here is an unusual happening in the sky.

Venus and Saturn have been visible in the western skies for many weeks now. Watch out for their close pairing on the 1st of July!

 

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