OCCULTATION OF SATURN TOMORROW MORNING 21ST OF AUGUST!
For those early birds and late night stargazers, you will be in for a very special celestial treat tonight / in the early hours of tomorrow morning.
If you have went out to see last night’s Super Blue Sturgeon full Moon you may have spotted that the Moon was fairly close by to a bright star like object. This star-like object is in fact the amazing ringed planet Saturn.
If you have been stargazing over the last few nights you may have also noticed that the Moon has been moving closer to Saturn over the last few nights and tomorrow morning they will reach their closest approach to each other in the sky and will appear very close together indeed!
Tomorrow morning, the Moon and Saturn will be in conjunction, appearing extremely close together in our skies.
Not only this, the Moon will actually appear to travel in front of the ringed planet Saturn, obscuring it from view for about 45 minutes. This type of event when the Moon travels in front of another celestial body, obscuring it from our view is known as an occultation.
If you would like to know more detailed information about this occultation including when/where to look, tips and tricks to help you, plus information on other things to look out for, please read on...
WHEN AND WHERE TO LOOK
The Moon and Saturn will rise above the Eastern horizon only a minute apart. The Moon will rise at roughly 20:54pm and Saturn will very shortly follow the Moon rising above the horizon at 20:55pm. When rising, they will appear to be separated by only 3.5 degrees.
After they have risen above the horizon, the Moon and Saturn will continue to ascend in the sky travelling towards the South where they will reach their highest point in the sky (aka transit), reaching around 28-29 degrees high in the sky at roughly 02:15-02:19. At this moment in time they will appear to be separated by only 1 degree.
From this point they will begin to descend in the sky travelling towards the West and will continue to appear to move closer together until the start of the occultation of Saturn at around 04:30am. At this moment in time Saturn will appear to be just sat just on top of the upper part of the Moon and will begin to rapidly disappear behind the Moon. Saturn will completely disappear from view around a minute and a half later at about 04:31.
Following the full occultation of Saturn for around the next 45 minutes Saturn will not be visible, being obscured from our view. Saturn will begin to reappear from behind the right hand side of the Moon at roughly 05:15am. If you are lucky enough to observe the occultation with a fairly large telescope, just before Saturn reappears you may be able to see its largest Moon – Titan reappear at around 05:07am. Saturn will fully reappear from behind the Moon at roughly 05:17am.
WHAT CONSTELLATION ARE THE MOON AND SATURN IN
Both the Moon and Saturn will appear in the constellation of Aquarius the water bearer.
TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR
You can tell whether you are looking at a planet or a star by looking out for the twinkling effect. When you look at a star for a short while, you will notice its brightness flickers and it may appear to change colour too. This twinkling effect is caused by the star light interacting with our Earth’s atmosphere. When you look at a planet, it shines with a very consistent solid brightness. This is because the light from planets is effected less by our atmosphere.
If you can remember the famous nursery rhyme – twinkle twinkle little star, this can help you remember that the stars twinkle and planets do not.
OTHER CELESTIAL TREATS TO LOOK OUT FOR
There are so many celestial treats in our night skies at this moment in time, here is a small selection of amazing sights to look out for:
- There are several meteor showers active at the moment including the Southern Delta Aquariids and the prolific Perseid meteor shower. Even though the peak of the Perseid meteor shower has passed, there may still be a chance that you will be able to see a late Perseid fireball blazing across the sky when out at night.
- The bright planets Jupiter and Mars can also be seen fairly close together in our early morning skies. Jupiter and Mars will rise above the North-eastern horizon at roughly 23:42pm. They will ascend in the sky travelling to the East and then South. They will both disappear from view as the skies brighten in the morning twilight.
- The open star cluster the Pleaides (aka the Seven Sisters) can be found close by to the planets Mars and Jupiter.
- The summer Milky Way in all its glory can be seen stretching all the way across the sky from the North to North-east, straight above across the zenith, and from the South to South-West. The bright core of the Milky Way can be seen towards the South.
- Our closest galactical neighbour, the amazing Andromeda Galaxy can be spotted to the eye as a small faint elliptical fuzzy in the constellation of Andromeda.
- The great globular cluster in Hercules can be seen to the eye as a small faint ball of light in the constellation of Hercules.
TIPS AND TRICKS
- Find a nice location with an unobstructed view towards the South. Having a good view of the Eastern horizon will give you the best chance of spotting the Moon and Saturn as they rise. If you live on the eastern coast, somewhere near the sea may be a good spot to view the two luminaries.
- The darker your viewing location, the more faint objects you will be able to see in the night sky too! Find a nice safe dark location to stargaze from and you will be able to see many more stars, meteors and deep space objects.
- If want to observe faint objects and you are in a dark location, let your eyes adjust to the darkness. If you don't look at sources of light such as the Moon, streetlights or mobile phones for between 15-30 minutes this will allow your eyes to dilate to their maximum aperture and the receptors in your eyes that are responsible for low light vision to fully activate. This will allow you to see much fainter objects in the night sky.
- If you must use your phone, use it on its lowest brightness setting. Many star-map and planetarium apps have a built-in red light/night mode that can help you keep your night vision. Another tip to help keep you night vision is to cover your phone screen in red cellophane.
- If you must use a light to light your way, use a torch that emits only red light. Red light is much less harmful to your night vision.
- Be mindful of other stargazers when using a torch or your phone. Bright lights can ruin other people’s night vision and stargazing experience!
- Wrap up warm! Even though we are still in summer, it can still get quite chilly in the mornings so make sure you are comfortable and warm.
- You don’t need binoculars or a telescope to enjoy this special meeting, just your eyes will easily be able to see the Moon and Saturn.
- If you do you own a pair of binoculars or a telescope you can get a much closer look at the occultation and the details of the planets and other celestial treats in our skies. The Moon with it’s craters and seas, Saturn with it’s beautiful ring system, Jupiter with it’s weather bands and great red spot, Mars with it’s red hue and frozen ice caps, the amazing elliptically shaped Andromeda galaxy, the glowing open star cluster - the Pleaides, and the sparkling globular star cluster in Hercules are all spectacular to view with binoculars or telescope.
- If you take a closer look at Jupiter with a pair of binoculars you will be able to spot it’s four largest moons. The bright satellites known as the Galilean moons – Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. The moons will appear in an almost perfectly straight line as small points of light nearby to the bright planet Jupiter.
- If you can remember the famous nursery rhyme – twinkle twinkle little star, this can help you remember that the stars twinkle and planets do not.
- There are several meteor showers active at the moment including the famous Perseid meteor shower, so keep an eye out across the whole sky for the chance to view some meteors aka shooting stars!
- If you want to know where the Milky way is, finding the asterism known as the “Summer Triangle” can help you. The super bright stars Deneb of Cygnus the swan, Vega of Lyra the harp and Altair of Aquila the eagle create a huge triangle in the night sky. These stars are in the middle of a bright portion of the Milky way. If you follow the length of the cross-like asterism – the Northern Cross that is part of the constellation Cygnus, this will also show you where the rest of the Milky way is travelling across the sky.
CLOSING WORDS
Such a close meeting of the Moon and the ringed planet Saturn doesn’t happen too often so we recommend that if you can, please head out to catch a glimpse of this very special occultation. The event will be amazing to view by eye, will be particularly spectacular viewed with binoculars/telescope, and will also make for an excellent photographic opportunity.
We ourselves will be heading out to witness this very special meeting of luminaries.
We wish you luck if you head out, and we wish you all clear skies!
#occultation #conjunction #planetaryconjunction #lunarconjunction #saturn #mars #jupiter #aquarius #taurus #starcluster #starclusters #pleiades #sevensisters #subaru #herculescluster #globularstarcluster #hercules #galaxy #galaxies #andromeda #andromedagalaxy #stargazing #stars #planets #milkyway #astrodog #astrodoguk #telescope #telescopes #binoculars #constellation #constellations # asterism #asterisms #meteors #meteor #shootingstar #shootingstars #perseids #perseidmeteorshower #meteorshower #meteorshowers