Monday January 13th 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 Earth day Saturn would travel how much of the 360o orbit around the Sun? That would amount to approximately 0.033o each day.
The Sun, in its apparent motion along the ecliptic moves at the rate the Earth is moving which is 0.99o each day. So with the Sun’s apparent motion (0.99o/day) it quickly, relative to Saturn, passes Saturn while both are moving eastward. This animated graphic starts with Saturn and the Sun above the horizon a couple of hours after sunrise. The animation is set for 1-day intervals showing the Sun moving eastward away from Saturn. The sky is purposely left dark to show Saturn more easily.
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.
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