Conjunction between the Moon and Saturn
2016 Sep 8
Dominic Ford – originally published on In-The-Sky.org
The Moon and Saturn will make a close approach, passing within 3°46' of each other.
From London (click to change), the pair will be difficult to observe as they will appear no higher than 15° above the horizon. They will become visible at around 19:51 (GMT) as the dusk sky fades, 15° above your southern horizon. They will then sink towards the horizon, setting 3 hours and 5 minutes after the Sun at 22:34.
At the moment of closest approach, the Moon will be at mag -11.7, and Saturn at mag 1.1, 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 | 16h37m00s | -16°44' | Ophiuchus | -11.7 | 29'41"3 |
| Saturn | 16h34m50s | -20°28' | Ophiuchus | 1.1 | 16"4 |
The coordinates above are given in J2000.0. The pair will be at an angular separation of 83° 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
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