Conjunction between the Moon and Saturn
2017 Jan 24
Dominic Ford – originally published on In-The-Sky.org
The Moon and Saturn will make a close approach, passing within 3°36' of each other.
From London (click to change), the pair will be difficult to observe as they will appear no higher than 12° above the horizon. They will be visible in the dawn sky. They will rise at 05:15 (BST), 2 hours and 35 minutes before the Sun, and attain an altitude of 12° above the south-eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 07:25.
At the moment of closest approach, the Moon will be at mag -10.3, 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 | 17h33m40s | -18°24' | Ophiuchus | -10.3 | 29'44"4 |
| Saturn | 17h32m30s | -22°00' | Ophiuchus | 1.2 | 15"4 |
The coordinates above are given in J2000.0. The pair will be at an angular separation of 40° 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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