Conjunction between the Moon and Jupiter
2017 Mar 14
Dominic Ford – originally published on In-The-Sky.org
The Moon and Jupiter will make a close approach, passing within 2°19' of each other.
From London (click to change), the pair will be visible in the morning sky. They will become accessible at around 21:16, when they rise 7° above your eastern horizon. They will then reach its highest point in the sky at 01:52, 31° above your southern horizon. They will be lost to dawn twilight at around 05:55, 12° above your south-western horizon.
At the moment of closest approach, the Moon will be at mag -12.5, and Jupiter at mag -2.4, both in the constellation Virgo.
The pair will be too widely separated to fit within the field of view of a telescope, but will be visible to the naked eye or through a pair of binoculars.
The precise positions of the Moon and Jupiter at the moment of closest approach will be as follows:
| Object | Right Ascension | Declination | Constellation | Magnitude | Angular Size |
| The Moon | 13h22m30s | -04°30' | Virgo | -12.5 | 30'04"2 |
| Jupiter | 13h19m30s | -06°42' | Virgo | -2.4 | 42"3 |
The coordinates above are given in J2000.0. The pair will be at an angular separation of 153° from the Sun, which is in Pisces at this time of year.
The details of this observing event were provided courtesy of In-The-Sky.org
.