Conjunction between the Moon and Jupiter
2017 Aug 25
Dominic Ford – originally published on In-The-Sky.org
The Moon and Jupiter will make a close approach, passing within 3°17' of each other.
From London (click to change), the pair will be difficult to observe as they will appear no higher than 9° above the horizon. They will become visible at around 20:24 (BST) as the dusk sky fades, 9° above your south-western horizon. They will then sink towards the horizon, setting 1 hour and 30 minutes after the Sun at 21:30.
At the moment of closest approach, the Moon will be at mag -10.7, and Jupiter at mag -1.8, 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 | 13h22m10s | -03°54' | Virgo | -10.7 | 30'34"6 |
| Jupiter | 13h17m50s | -07°01' | Virgo | -1.8 | 31"7 |
The coordinates above are given in J2000.0. The pair will be at an angular separation of 48° from the Sun, which is in Leo at this time of year.
The details of this observing event were provided courtesy of In-The-Sky.org
.