Thursday December 21^st the planet Saturn will have reached the astronomical coordinates that officially place it at solar conjunction. From our perspective the planet is behind the Sun, or on the opposite side of the Sun from the Earth.
   In reality it is not as much as Saturn moving behind the Sun as it is the Sun passing in front of Saturn – or so it seems. As a distant outer planet Saturn moves more slowly around the Sun than the Earth does. One year on Saturn is equal to 29.7 years (10,832 days) on Earth. So in one day Saturn would travel how much of the 360^o orbit around the Sun? That would amount to approximately 0.033^o each day.
   The Sun, in its apparent motion along the ecliptic moves at the rate the Earth is moving which is 0.99^o each day. So with the Sun’s apparent motion (0.99^o/day) it quickly, relative to Saturn, passes Saturn while both are moving eastward. So with that in mind you could start watching for Saturn to reappear in the morning skies later next month.

   
   
   

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for monthly observing information, or here to return to bobs-spaces.