Stargazers, prepare yourselves – next week promises an extraordinary celestial event featuring Neptune and Saturn visible all over the globe.
On the night of August 21, our solar system’s ‘Ringed Planet’ is predicted to emerge near the Moon after dusk. Visible with the naked eye, it will be observable across Europe, North Africa, and even some parts of South America.
In what promises to be a night of astrological excitement, the so-called ‘Blue Giant’ may also make its presence felt on the very same evening. So, don’t forget your binoculars!
Starwalk, a leading astronomy guide, labels this double planet event a ‘lunar occultation’ of both Saturn and Neptune. It occurs when the Moon glides in front of another star or planet while they reside in the same constellation.
Its experts explained: “On August 21, the 97%-illuminated Moon and Saturn (mag 0.7) will meet in the constellation Aquarius. The planet will rise in the evening and will be visible to the naked eye. Also, a lunar occultation of Saturn will be visible over Europe and the northern parts of Africa and South America.
“On August 21, the 97%-illuminated Moon and Neptune (mag 7.9) will meet in the constellation Pisces. The planet will rise in the evening and will be visible in binoculars. Also, a lunar occultation of Neptune will be observable over Africa, Europe, and Asia.”
The occultation of Neptune is set to kickstart quite early at 19:59 GMT before drawing to a close at 23:37 GMT. Meanwhile, Saturn’s occultation is due to occur far later at 00:44 GMT, finishing almost four hours later at 04:38 GMT.
If you’re keen to observe this or even capture it on camera, Starwalk always suggests checking the weather in advance, as clouds can obstruct a good night of stargazing. For this purpose, it recommends using Sky Tonight, which provides these forecasts with astronomy in mind.
“Open the Sky Tonight app and tap the telescope icon at the bottom. You’ll see two tabs — Stargazing Index and Weather,” its experts add. “Select the latter and find the date with cloudless weather, so clouds don’t interfere with your night of astrophotography.
“Find out when objects are well-placed for your location [too]. In Sky Tonight, tap the magnifier icon at the bottom. Enter the name of the object you’re interested in and tap the target icon next to the corresponding search result.”
