What’s a planetary occultation?
An occultation is the last word planetary line-up. A planetary occultation occurs when a bigger planetary physique passes in entrance of a smaller one, blocking the view of the smaller one from Earth. The most typical type of occultation occurs when the Moon passes in entrance of a planet, because it seems so giant in Earth’s night time sky.
Extraordinarily not often, a planet will occult one other planet. That is so uncommon as a result of planets seem very small in Earth’s skies, so their alignment must be terribly exact for them to truly produce an occultation. The following time this occurs will likely be on Nov. 22, 2065, when Venus will occult Jupiter.
What does it imply when a planet is at conjunction?
One other time period stargazers could hear is {that a} planet is at conjunction. The planets who orbit the Solar past Earth (Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) are at conjunction when they’re on the far facet of the Solar from the Earth and all three our bodies are practically in a straight line.
When the innermost planets (Mercury and Venus) are on the far facet of the Solar it’s referred to as superior conjunction. When they’re between the Earth and the Solar, it’s referred to as inferior conjunction.
