The moon is about to satisfy up with Saturn within the night sky the following two nights.
On Wednesday (Aug. 2), the ringed planet can be just above and to the left of the moon within the night sky when each rise above the eastern horizon at around 9:45 p.m. ET (0145 GMT on Aug. 3) as seen from Recent York City. The duo will reach their highest point around 4:45 a.m. the following morning.
And through the conjunction on Thursday (Aug. 3), the 17-day-old waning moon will pass just 2 degrees below Saturn. A conjunction means the moon and Saturn will share the identical right ascension within the sky over Earth, the celestial equivalent of longitude. During this event, the moon and the gas giant, the solar system’s second largest planet, can be positioned within the constellation Aquarius and can be visible from Recent York City shortly after they rise around 9:16 p.m. EDT (0116 GMT on Aug. 4), in accordance with Within the Sky. The moon and Saturn will remain visible into the morning of Friday (Aug. 4), after they set at around 8:04 a.m. EDT (1204 GMT).
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Despite being an in depth approach, the 2 will still be two widely separated to be seen together by telescope. They ought to be visible together in the broader field of view of binoculars, nevertheless.
The moon could have a magnitude within the sky of -12.7, with the minus prefix reserved for particularly shiny objects over Earth, and Saturn could have a magnitude of 0.5, much fainter to the unaided eye. When it comes to the perceived sizes from our vantage point on the bottom, the moon will absolutely dwarf Saturn within the sky over Earth on Thursday.
This example couldn’t be more different within the actual solar system. While the moon has a diameter of just 2,159 miles (3,475 kilometers), Saturn is 72,400 miles (116,500 km) wide. To place this into perspective, Saturn, the sixth planet from the sun, is 9 times the width of Earth. Based on NASA, which means if Earth was a nickel, then Saturn could be a basketball. But Earth is, in turn, roughly 4 times the width of the moon. Meaning it could take not less than 36 moons to loop across the equator of Saturn.
The disparity in size between the moon and Saturn becomes even clearer when considering the quantity of each bodies, again using Earth as a measuring stick. It might take 764 Earths to fill the quantity of Saturn, while it could take about 50 moons to fill the Earth. Meaning it could take roughly a staggering 38,200 moons to fill the quantity of Saturn.
The explanation the moon appears a lot larger than Saturn within the night sky is, predictably, its proximity to our planet. While the moon is on average 238,855 miles (384,400 km) away from Earth, Saturn continues to be 746 million miles (1.2 billion km) from our planet at its closest point. Meaning the Earth/moon system could fit between Earth and Saturn over 3,123 times, even when the planet is at its closest.
As this demonstrates, when astronomers describe events just like the encounter between the moon and Saturn on Thursday as a “close approach,” it only refers to our limited perspective from Earth. The 2 are anything but “close” on the size of the solar system, but don’t let that stop you from having fun with the sight of them close within the sky!
When you are hoping to catch a have a look at the moon and Saturn during this close approach, our guides to the best telescopes and best binoculars are a terrific place to start out.
When you’re seeking to snap photos of the moon and Saturn, or simply the night sky normally, try our guide on the way to photograph the moonand the way to photograph the planets, in addition to our best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography.