Planetary conjunction: Mars, Venus, Moon set to align on July 12-13

Those interested to see the Earth’s neighbours are in for a treat this week. Mars and Venus – two of the Earth’s closest neighbours – will come closest to each other in the sky on Tuesday giving a chance to sky gazers to watch these planets with naked eyes.

Both Mars and Venus will appear in the western horizon under clear weather conditions just after sunset.

Before that, the moon will pass closest to the two planets on Monday.

This unique phenomenon is part of planetary conjunction. Such conjunction takes place when two planets appear to have come closer, while in reality they remain far away.

Mars and Venus are likely to be 0.5 degrees apart as observed from Earth, though they are actually further apart. Bengaluru’s Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) stated that the conjunction will also include the Earth’s moon coming close to within four degrees of the planets.

“Mars and Venus are passing close to each other in the sky and will be only 0.5 deg (as wide as the size of the Moon) on 13 July. The Moon will also be close to them on 12 July. This is a naked eye event, so go out and see them every evening from today. We bring you 12 posters!” the institute posted in its Twitter handle IIAstrophysics.

Both Mars and Venus are expected to move away gradually after Tuesday. The planetary alignment will be observable only from Earth. It can be viewed from anywhere in India in clear skies. Both planets can be spotted aligned in the same frame through telescopes or binoculars. The angles of the paths are set to be slightly different for northern parts of India.