Conjunction between the Moon and Jupiter
2017 Jun 4
Dominic Ford – originally published on In-The-Sky.org
The Moon and Jupiter will make a close approach, passing within 2°11' of each other.
From London (click to change), the pair will become visible at around 21:35 (BST) as the dusk sky fades, 34° above your southern horizon. They will then sink towards the horizon, setting 5 hours and 40 minutes after the Sun at 02:45.
At the moment of closest approach, the Moon will be at mag -12.2, and Jupiter at mag -2.2, 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 | 12h53m00s | -01°45' | Virgo | -12.2 | 30'03"3 |
| Jupiter | 12h50m00s | -03°49' | Virgo | -2.2 | 39"4 |
The coordinates above are given in J2000.0. The pair will be at an angular separation of 119° from the Sun, which is in Taurus at this time of year.
The details of this observing event were provided courtesy of In-The-Sky.org
.