This December 31, the Moon Y Mars They will give away one last unmissable astronomical event.
Fortunately, it will not be necessary to have a special instrument to appreciate it.
(You may be interested in: Meteor shower, supermoon and other astronomical events of 2022).
During the night of December 31 and the early morning of the next day, January 1, 2022, it will appear that the Moon and mars they will be ‘giving a kiss’ thanks to a phenomenon known as conjunction.
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In this regard, Henry Throop, astronomer of the Division of Planetary Sciences of the POT He explains: “You can imagine the solar system as a race track, with each of the planets as a runner in its own lane and Earth toward the center of the stadium.”
The planets appear to ‘intersect’ and regularly align with each other in the solar system. Precisely, astronomers call a close planetary pairing a conjunction, says ‘National Geographic’.
(It may interest you: The star of Bethlehem: could it have been a planetary conjunction?).
This would have been the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter on August 12, 2 BC, seen from Arabia eastward before dawn.
Stellarium Software
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However, a conjunction does not only occur between planets, but also between stars, like the Moon, and other planets. That is precisely the case of the event on the last day of the year.
During the night and early morning on Friday and Saturday, respectively, the Moon can be seen ending its waning phase. It will be accompanied ‘very closely’ in the sky of Mars and Antares. The latter is a supergiant star, the brightest in the constellation Scorpio.
(See: These are the space missions that will amaze us in 2022).
To witness the conjunction it will be enough to look at the sky without using any instrument. Of course, it will be necessary for the sky to be clear.
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