Don’t miss … a “rare conjunction” of the moon and three planets today and tomorrow in a wonderful spectacle

The meeting of the Moon, Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn in the constellation Capricorn will be observed in the skies of Egypt and the Arab world before sunrise today, Wednesday and tomorrow March 11, 2021, and as part of this gathering, three associations will occur during these two days, conducive to their observation with the naked eye, which is an opportunity for astronomical photography.

The conjunction occurs when two or more celestial bodies approach each other in the sky, seen from the earth, and share the same rectilinear aspect or the longitude of the ecliptic.

The Jeddah Astronomical Society revealed in a report that, first, a conjunction will occur between the moon and Saturn on the morning of Wednesday, March 10, when the 26-day moon will pass an 11% illuminated pinch and separate it from the planet of the rings, Saturn, 3 degrees, and the moon’s brightness will be -10.4, while Saturn will be lower 0.6 and will appear in the dawn sky about two hours before sunrise, and will reach the highest point in the sky above the southeast horizon as morning light diffuses.

Because the distance between the moon and Saturn is so wide, they will not be seen together in the same field of view as the telescope, but it can be done with binoculars.

The morning of the next day, Thursday March 11, a few hours before sunrise, it will be noted that the moon has moved away from Saturn towards the east and that the illumination of the pinch has decreased to become 5.4% compared to the day before and became located near Jupiter and Mercury.

And Jupiter is the brightest morning planet right now, it’s about 12 times brighter than Saturn and Mercury seven times, and although Mercury is brighter than Saturn, Saturn may be easier seeing these two worlds, where Saturn shines first, followed by Jupiter, then Mercury.

During this conjunction, the moon and the planets will be easily observed with the naked eye on the dome of the sky, and when using binoculars, more details can be seen, such as the four large moons of Jupiter than the ‘the moons of Galilee are called.