This time, Mercury’s I decided to join the party, with the three planets appearing close together in a rare triple assemblage tonight (Sunday 10 January).
according to EarthSky, the ‘amazing close-up’ will be on display at dusk.
The website states: “These three planets draw up closely at the orbit of the sky for the month, corresponding to the interior of a measuring circle. 2.4 degree in diameter. (For information, the width of a finger at arm’s length goes around 2 degrees of sky.)
“A trio of planets is a group of three planets in a circle that has a diameter exceeding 5 degrees or less.”
Space.com‘s skywatching column Joe Rao strongly recommends, as the trio appear so close to the horizon and so close to sunset, stars use a pair of binoculars to see the planets clearly against the evening sky.
The site explains that the three bodies form a low ‘graceful little triangle’ in the southwestern skies, appearing about 30 to 45 minutes after sunset.
“Jupiter appears at the top of the triangle, shining about two and a half times whiter than Mercury, and 10 times brighter than Saturn, “he explains.
Space.com also says that this may be the last chance to capture Jupiter and Saturn in the evening sky for a while, as the planets continue to orbit further and further into the sunset.
2 months agoMercury, however, will continue to rise – meaning it will be visible throughout the rest of the month.
Of course, while the three planets look as they approach each other, they are not yet close to splitting speed.
When the massive connection began a few weeks ago, Jupiter was about 550 million miles from Earth – which is about 5.9 times the distance between the Earth and the sun.
Saturn was about a billion miles from Earth – that’s about 10.8 times the Earth’s distance from the sun.
Mercury is much closer to about 120 million miles from Earth.
According to Space.com, it is the reason for all three look so close together that their orbits are placed in a straight line ‘relative to Earth’.