Hyderabad: Don’t miss the rare position of Venus, Saturn and Moon in the sky
Hyderabad: Amateur astronomers in Hyderabad now have the opportunity to witness a rare astronomical phenomenon, known as the triple conjunction of planets with the moon, which will be visible in Hyderabad skies till Saturday. The triple conjunction of planets with the moon will have the planets Venus and Saturn in conjunction with the moon, which means the three celestial bodies will appear very close to each other in Hyderabad skies. “In simple terms, conjunction occurs when two or more celestial bodies appear near each other in the Earth’s sky, even though there is a great distance between them. For example, the Moon is 3, 84,000 km away from Earth, while Venus and Saturn are millions to billions of kilometres away from Earth and the Moon. Yet, due to the conjunction, they appear near the moon between Friday and Saturday. However, for many weeks to come, astronomy lovers in Hyderabad can also see Venus and Saturn in the east direction before sunrise,” says N Sri Raghunandan Kumar, founder, Planetary Society of India (PSI). Interestingly, a rare astronomical phenomenon took place in the conjunction of Venus and Saturn on Friday morning. What is to be noted is that Venus orbits the Sun on one side of the Earth, while Saturn’s orbit is far away from Mars and Jupiter. Despite orbiting the Sun on different paths, these celestial bodies appear near each other during the ‘conjunction’ on April 25 to 26, Raghunandan pointed out.
No smiley face
There is unconfirmed news about the formation of a ‘smiley face’ involving Venus, Saturn and the Moon, which has gone viral on several social media platforms. However, the senior astronomer from Hyderabad has clarified that Saturn is too dim to be visible during the event, and the city’s pollution makes visibility even worse. While Venus is visible, Saturn remains invisible to the naked eye. As of now, Saturn is too dim as it is far away from Earth. But as the days go by, the distance between Earth and Saturn will reduce, making Saturn brighter and more visible. Hence, the news of the ‘smiley face’ involving the Moon, Venus and Saturn is exaggerated and unverified, said Mr. Raghunandan Kumar. Members of the Planetary Society of India, who have been observing the sky of Hyderabad for the past three days, have attempted to capture photographs and videos of Venus and Saturn. To view these photographs, visit www.ournewplanets.info for images/videos.
