Skywatchers are in for an astronomical treat as two of Earth’s neighbouring planets, Mars and Venus, are expected to come closest to each other in the sky on July 13. The moon will also pass closest to the two planets on July 12. This will be visible to the naked eye and can be witnessed in the western horizon under clear weather conditions just after sunset.
In a celestial event termed ‘planetary conjunction’, Mars and Venus are likely to be 0.5 degrees apart as observed from Earth, though they are actually further apart. Bengaluru’s Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) stated that the conjunction will also include the Earth’s moon coming close to within four degrees of the planets.
Mars and Venus are passing close to each other in the sky and will be only 0.5 deg (as wide as the size of the Moon) on 13 July. The Moon will also be close to them on 12 July. This is a naked eye event, so go out and see them every evening from today. We bring you 12 posters! pic.twitter.com/kdLmiDPsCO
— IIAstrophysics (@IIABengaluru) July 8, 2021
The three-celestial-body conjunction can be observed in the sky from Thursday, July 8 till Tuesday, July 13 for anyone who wants to catch the apparent coming closer of Mars and Venus. They are expected to move away gradually after July 13. The planetary alignment will be observable only from Earth. It can be viewed from anywhere in India in clear skies. Both planets can be spotted aligned in the same frame through telescopes or binoculars. The angles of the paths are set to be slightly different for northern parts of India.
In astronomy, a conjunction occurs when any two astronomical objects such as asteroids, moons, planets and stars appear to be close together in the sky, as observed from Earth. “It’s not a very uncommon phenomenon. While planets continue to move along their orbits, they come close to each other and align occasionally,” said Jayant Murthy, a professor at IIA, Bengaluru.
In December 2020, Jupiter and Saturn were the closest to each other appearing like one bright star. It was called a ‘great conjunction’ considering that none of the planets had come as close since 1623. The planets will next come comparably close in March 2080.
The IIA has called for entries of photographs and sketches of the conjunction and will publish the best ones.