2016 January 7
A very close conjunction of Venus and Saturn
On the morning of Saturday January 9 Venus and Saturn are within a few arcminutes of each other in the south-eastern dawn sky. You will need a very good horizon as the event takes place only a few degrees up but if the skies are clear it will certainly be worth searching for a suitable site to enjoy this very close conjunction.
Saturn and Venus both rise around 05:15UTfrom the UK and the chart below shows their positions at 06:00UT on January 9 (the same time as the start of astronomical twilight). At this time the planets will be around 5 degrees up and only 7 arcminutes apart. Venus will shine at a brilliant mag -4.0 (with a phase of 0.8) while Saturn only shines at a miserable magnitude 0.5. The Sun rises at around 08:00.
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