| Title: |
Conjunction of Venus & Saturn in Leo |
| Location: |
Western sky; viewable for approx. 2 hrs. after sunset |
| Date / Time: |
June 29 -July 1st; 8:00 PM |
| Comments: |
Watch as Venus, unmistakably the brightest planet, highly visible at sunset in the Western sky (WSW), meets up with Saturn. As soon as it's dark enough to see Saturn (around 8PM), on June 29th, look for the 2 planets closely aligned. On June 30th & July 1st, the planets will appear from Earth to be so close as to seem like a single object. Just east of the pair is Regulus, the bright star which is the heart of Leo the Lion. Venus makes one orbit around the Sun in 225(Earth)days, while Saturn takes 29.5(Earth)YEARS. What we see as a "conjunction" of the 2 planets is the faster moving Venus catching up with the slower orbiting Saturn. The two planets are actually over 800 million miles apart, but in our "line of sight" from Earth, they appear close to one another & even "conjunct" in these 3 nights. |
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Maintained by Roz Reiner - Kauai, Hawaii
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