Conjunction between the Moon and Jupiter
2018 Mar 7
Dominic Ford – originally published on In-The-Sky.org
The Moon and Jupiter will make a close approach, passing within 3°57′ of each other.
From London (click to change), the pair will be visible in the morning sky. They will become accessible at around 01:00, when they rise 7° above your south-eastern horizon. They will then reach its highest point in the sky at 04:24, 21° above your southern horizon. They will be lost to dawn twilight at around 06:11, 17° above your south-western horizon.
At the moment of closest approach, the Moon will be at mag -12.2, and Jupiter at mag -2.2, both in the constellation Libra.
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 | 15h27m50s | -13°31′ | Libra | -12.2 | 30’15″4 |
| Jupiter | 15h23m30s | -17°21′ | Libra | -2.2 | 38″9 |
The coordinates above are given in J2000.0. The pair will be at an angular separation of 113° from the Sun, which is in Aquarius at this time of year.
The details of this observing event were provided courtesy of In-The-Sky.org
.