Conjunction between the Moon and Jupiter
2018 Sep 14
Dominic Ford – originally published on In-The-Sky.org
The Moon and Jupiter will make a close approach, passing within 4°10' of each other.
From London (click to change), the pair will be difficult to observe as they will appear no higher than 10° above the horizon. They will become visible at around 19:37 (BST) as the dusk sky fades, 10° above your south-western horizon. They will then sink towards the horizon, setting 1 hour and 53 minutes after the Sun at 21:08.
At the moment of closest approach, the Moon will be at mag -11.1, and Jupiter at mag -1.9, 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 | 15h11m40s | -12°39' | Libra | -11.1 | 30'57"6 |
| Jupiter | 15h06m30s | -16°39' | Libra | -1.9 | 32"9 |
The coordinates above are given in J2000.0. The pair will be at an angular separation of 58° 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
.