A special celestial event can be observed on Saturday night, when the Moon and Saturn will appear close together, visible to the naked eye, the Svábhegy Observatory informed MTI on Tuesday.
According to their statement, from 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, the waxing Moon and Saturn will appear one below the other in the sky. This will be the last opportunity this year for the two celestial bodies to come this close.
The phenomenon can be observed by looking toward the southern sky, where the waxing Moon—already larger than a half-moon at 65% illumination—will be visible at an altitude of about 40 degrees. Just over 2 degrees below it, Saturn will appear as a star-like, orange-tinted point of light, shining brighter than the surrounding stars despite its proximity to the Moon. The pair can be observed clearly in the southwest sky until 11:00 p.m., after which they will set shortly after 12:30 a.m.
Through a telescope, Saturn’s rings will appear almost exactly edge-on, visible only as a thin, faint line along the equator of the elliptical planet disk. This is because the tilt of Saturn’s rings toward Earth changes over its 29-year orbit. The next similar alignment will occur in October 2038, 13 years from now.
The Svábhegy Observatory has planned a special program to showcase this conjunction, and further details are available on the institution’s website.
(MTI)
