Conjunction between the Moon and Saturn
2018 Sep 17
Dominic Ford – originally published on In-The-Sky.org
The Moon and Saturn will make a close approach, passing within 2°03' 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 19:31 (BST) as the dusk sky fades, 15° above your southern horizon. They will then sink towards the horizon, setting 4 hours and 12 minutes after the Sun at 23:21.
At the moment of closest approach, the Moon will be at mag -11.9, and Saturn at mag 1.0, both in the constellation Sagittarius.
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 | 18h10m50s | -20°40' | Sagittarius | -11.9 | 29'44"0 |
| Saturn | 18h10m20s | -22°44' | Sagittarius | 1.0 | 16"8 |
The coordinates above are given in J2000.0. The pair will be at an angular separation of 98° from the Sun, which is in Virgo at this time of year.
The details of this observing event were provided courtesy of In-The-Sky.org
.