Conjunction between the Moon and Saturn
2016 Feb 3
Dominic Ford – originally published on In-The-Sky.org
The Moon and Saturn will make a close approach, passing within 3°28' of each other.
From London (click to change), the pair will be difficult to observe as they will appear no higher than 16° above the horizon. They will be visible in the dawn sky. They will rise at 03:50 (GMT), 3 hours and 48 minutes before the Sun, and attain an altitude of 16° above the southern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 07:14.
At the moment of closest approach, the Moon will be at mag -11.1, and Saturn at mag 1.2, both in the constellation Ophiuchus.
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 Saturn at the moment of closest approach will be as follows:
| Object | Right Ascension | Declination | Constellation | Magnitude | Angular Size |
| The Moon | 16h53m20s | -17°23' | Ophiuchus | -11.1 | 30'25"5 |
| Saturn | 16h51m50s | -20°50' | Ophiuchus | 1.2 | 15"8 |
The coordinates above are given in J2000.0. The pair will be at an angular separation of 60° from the Sun, which is in Capricornus at this time of year.
The details of this observing event were provided courtesy of In-The-Sky.org
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