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longtry
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by longtry » Mon Feb 25, 2019 4:01 pm
Hi there,
I'd love to know when Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus will line up on the sky next. Is it visible in the evening? That is, before 11PM.
That's pretty much all. But if you're extra kind, I'd like to know when the 3 brighter ones of them line up as well. Oh, and when all 5 outer planets do it?
Thank you!
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neufer
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by neufer » Mon Feb 25, 2019 5:00 pm
longtry wrote: ↑Mon Feb 25, 2019 4:01 pm
I'd love to know when Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus will line up on the sky next. Is it visible in the evening? That is, before 11PM.
That's pretty much all. But if you're extra kind, I'd like to know when the 3 brighter ones of them line up as well. Oh, and when all 5 outer planets do it?
You need to define what you mean exactly by "
line up on the sky."
E.g., there will be a neat conjunction of planets Jupiter & Saturn at the end of 2020.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_conjunction wrote:
<<A great conjunction is a conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn. The last great conjunction took place on May 31, 2000, while the next one will be in late December 2020. Great conjunctions take place regularly, every 18–20 years, as a result of the combined ~12-year orbital period of Jupiter around the Sun, and Saturn's ~30-year orbital period. The 2000 conjunction fell within mere weeks after both had passed conjunction with the Sun, and it was very difficult to observe without visual aid because the two planets rose only 30–45 minutes before sunrise, depending upon the location of the observer.
Great conjunctions have attracted considerable attention as celestial omens. There has been some speculation,[by whom?] for example, that the so-called "Star of Bethlehem" was a great conjunction that occurred c. 7 BCE. During the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, great conjunctions were a topic broached by most astronomers of the period up to the times of Tycho Brahe and Kepler, by scholastic thinkers as Roger Bacon or Pierre d'Ailly, and they are mentioned in popular and literary writing by authors such as Dante or Shakespeare. This interest is traced back in Europe to the translations from Arabian sources, most notably Albumasar's book on conjunction.
Code: Select all
Great conjunction Date Time(UTC) Separation Elongation Zodiac sign
17 July 1802 22:57:00 39' South 40.6° East Virgo
19 June 1821 16:56:57 1°10' North 63.3° West Aries
26 January 1842 06:16:53 32' South 27.1° West Capricorn
21 October 1861 12:27:02 48' South 39.7° West Virgo
18 April 1881 13:35:59 1°13' North 3.1° East Taurus
28 November 1901 16:37:33 26' South 38.2° East Capricorn
10 September 1921 04:13:03 57' South 9.7° East Virgo
August 8, 1940 01:13:20 1°11' North 90.9° West Taurus
20 October 1940 04:42:14 1°14' North 164.0° West Taurus
15 February 1941 06:36:25 1°17' North 72.9° East Taurus
19 February 1961 00:07:18 14' South 34.9° West Capricorn
31 December 1980 21:17:24 1°03' South 90.9° West Libra
March 4, 1981 19:14:36 1°03' South 155.9° West Libra
24 July 1981 04:13:35 1°06' South 63.8° East Libra
28 May 2000 15:56:27 1°09' North 14.9° West Taurus
21 December 2020 18:37:31 6' South 30.1° East Aquarius
According to financial astrologer Daniel T. Ferrera, whenever a great conjunction occurs during an election or inauguration year, the president is likely to die in office. Careful analysis shows that, although it remained correct from 1840 to 1960, this rule started to “lose its power” after 1980. However, even though those presidents did not die in office, they still came close in each case:
- Presidents who were elected around a great conjunction
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Election Year Died in office? Date of Death/Incident Detail of Incident
1840 William Henry Harrison Yes 4 April 1841 Pneumonia
1860 Abraham Lincoln Yes 15 April 1865 Assassination
1880 James A. Garfield Yes 19 September 1881 Assassination
1900 William McKinley Yes 14 September 1901 Assassination
1920 Warren G. Harding Yes 2 August 1923 Heart attack
1940 Franklin D. Roosevelt Yes 12 April 1945 Cerebral haemorrhage
1960 John F. Kennedy Yes 22 November 1963 Assassination
1980 Ronald Reagan No 30 March 1981 Shot but survived.
2000 George W. Bush No 10 May 2005 Thrown a live grenade which did not detonate.
Art Neuendorffer
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longtry
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by longtry » Tue Feb 26, 2019 3:32 am
Yes, what I meant is conjunction. This fancy word sometimes slips from my mind because I'm not very good at English, so pardon me
I do know about the 2020 conjunction, seeing it at theplanetstoday.com. It seems like Mars will join the fray, but all this partying will take place late in the night, near sunrise. That's why I added the 'before 11PM' part in the original question.
I think it'd be cool to record the 4 brighter planets' retrograde dance with normal equipment, as I'm a newbie "astronomer".
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Nitpicker
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by Nitpicker » Tue Feb 26, 2019 4:09 am
The Great Conjunction of 2020 will be visible just after sunset on Dec 21, low on the western horizon. Both planets will be well past their annual oppositions with Earth and Sun, and well past their annual periods of retrograde motion.
But this is a fun web page to play with:
https://www.heavens-above.com/planets.aspx
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neufer
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by neufer » Tue Feb 26, 2019 5:03 am
longtry wrote: ↑Tue Feb 26, 2019 3:32 am
neufer wrote: ↑Mon Feb 25, 2019 5:00 pm
longtry wrote: ↑Mon Feb 25, 2019 4:01 pm
I'd love to know when Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus will line up on the sky next. Is it visible in the evening? That is, before 11PM.
That's pretty much all. But if you're extra kind, I'd like to know when the 3 brighter ones of them line up as well. Oh, and when all 5 outer planets do it?
You need to define what you mean exactly by "
line up on the sky."
E.g., there will be a neat conjunction of planets Jupiter & Saturn at the end of 2020.
Yes, what I meant is conjunction. This fancy word sometimes slips from my mind because I'm not very good at English, so pardon me
I do know about the 2020 conjunction, seeing it at theplanetstoday.com. It seems like Mars will join the fray, but all this partying will take place late in the night, near sunrise. That's why I added the 'before 11PM' part in the original question.
I think it'd be cool to record the 4 brighter planets' retrograde dance with normal equipment, as I'm a newbie "astronomer".
- Well, from May 11 to Sep 29 in 2020 you can watch Jupiter & Saturn retrograde
dance together (against the background stars) while staying ~6 degrees apart.
Art Neuendorffer
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longtry
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by longtry » Wed Feb 27, 2019 3:41 am
My original question is when will the conjunction of the 4 naked-eye outer planets be. While the 2020 'great' conj is quite anticipated, as evidenced by the answers, it doesn't involve all 4.
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Nitpicker
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by Nitpicker » Wed Feb 27, 2019 11:41 am
It depends on what tolerance one applies to the definition of a conjunction, but I don't think the four planets from Mars to Uranus will line up that closely in our lifetimes. And to be visible nicely in the evening would require Earth to be more or less in line as well.
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Chris Peterson
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by Chris Peterson » Wed Feb 27, 2019 2:57 pm
Nitpicker wrote: ↑Wed Feb 27, 2019 11:41 am
It depends on what tolerance one applies to the definition of a conjunction, but I don't think the four planets from Mars to Uranus will line up that closely in our lifetimes. And to be visible nicely in the evening would require Earth to be more or less in line as well.
Taking Uranus off the table might help. It is a naked eye planet only in the most technical sense- invisible except under ideal conditions to a skilled observer with excellent vision who knows exactly where to look. There's a reason it was never detected as a planet despite thousands of years of people studying the sky. Planetary conjunctions are fun because they are
pretty; Uranus adds nothing to the visual experience.
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neufer
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by neufer » Wed Feb 27, 2019 8:20 pm
Chris Peterson wrote: ↑Wed Feb 27, 2019 2:57 pm
Nitpicker wrote: ↑Wed Feb 27, 2019 11:41 am
It depends on what tolerance one applies to the definition of a conjunction, but I don't think the four planets from Mars to Uranus will line up that closely in our lifetimes. And to be visible nicely in the evening would require Earth to be more or less in line as well.
Taking Uranus off the table might help. It is a naked eye planet only in the most technical sense- invisible except under ideal conditions to a skilled observer with excellent vision who knows exactly where to look. There's a reason it was never detected as a planet despite thousands of years of people studying the sky. Planetary conjunctions are fun because they are
pretty; Uranus adds nothing to the visual experience.
OTOH, on Nov. 19, 2020, (just after sunset) you can take a telescope out and observe
all the outer planets within 120º of Azimuth... including a close clustering of the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter & Pluto.
Art Neuendorffer
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Chris Peterson
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by Chris Peterson » Wed Feb 27, 2019 10:22 pm
neufer wrote: ↑Wed Feb 27, 2019 8:20 pm
Chris Peterson wrote: ↑Wed Feb 27, 2019 2:57 pm
Nitpicker wrote: ↑Wed Feb 27, 2019 11:41 am
It depends on what tolerance one applies to the definition of a conjunction, but I don't think the four planets from Mars to Uranus will line up that closely in our lifetimes. And to be visible nicely in the evening would require Earth to be more or less in line as well.
Taking Uranus off the table might help. It is a naked eye planet only in the most technical sense- invisible except under ideal conditions to a skilled observer with excellent vision who knows exactly where to look. There's a reason it was never detected as a planet despite thousands of years of people studying the sky. Planetary conjunctions are fun because they are
pretty; Uranus adds nothing to the visual experience.
OTOH, on Nov. 19, 2020, (just after sunset) you can take a telescope out and observe
all the outer planets within 120º of Azimuth... including a close clustering of the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter & Pluto.
Sure, but that's a different exercise, more akin to a Messier marathon. Nothing wrong with it, of course, but it isn't at all the same as an impressive naked eye conjunction.
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longtry
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by longtry » Thu Feb 28, 2019 4:38 am
Thank you for your prediction, nitpicker and your explanation, Chris. Makes a lot of sense. It's hard to even find a decent watching spot nowadays, let alone 'optimal'. Let's promote my secondary question "When will Mars, Jupiter & Saturn make a conjunction?" up to be the primary. The extra is, when will they do it before 11.30PM?
neufer's suggestion is pretty interesting, though again I'm more aligned with Chris' argument of it being more like a Messier marathon. I will still remember that date though

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Nitpicker
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by Nitpicker » Thu Feb 28, 2019 6:58 am
Conjunctions in RA:
2040-08-18 Mars-Jupiter (just after sunset)
2040-09-01 Mars-Saturn (just after sunset)
2040-11-05 Jupiter-Saturn (just before sunrise)
But the pick of the bunch might be:
2040-09-08 Mercury-Venus-Moon-Mars-Jupiter-Saturn (all within about 10 degrees, just after sunset, very low in the West).
2040.PNG
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longtry
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by longtry » Fri Mar 01, 2019 6:38 am
2040 then

I'm wondering when will Mars, Jupiter & Saturn get into positions of both conjunction
and opposition? To record something like the
20-12-2001 APOD, I think a night sky is more favorable than a twilight, Venus-belt-low scene like in 2040. Because it will take many days, right?
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Nitpicker
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by Nitpicker » Fri Mar 01, 2019 8:03 am
2080, November to December are the next closest I can find to your ever changing criteria. I won't be alive by then, so I've started to lose interest.
These won't be close enough to opposition to see them all looping together. Each planet has a different retrograde period, increasing with distance out from Earth. The time span is typically months each year, not days.
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longtry
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by longtry » Sat Mar 02, 2019 10:09 am
Thanks, I see. So even though they're in conjunction, they won't necessarily 'dance' together. Seems like a pas de trois is nigh impossible to record, since just like in our world, it's not that common.
Also, don't lose faith in the medical progress! Technology can prolong our lifespan dramatically, we just don't know when that leap will be.
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Nitpicker
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by Nitpicker » Sat Mar 02, 2019 10:19 am
Not impossible, just too rare for most of the current generations of humans, perhaps. Some future generations might be luckier in this respect.
And I don't think I'm that keen on living so long. Another thirty or forty years will be plenty for me, thanks.