Jupiter, Venus and Mars these Earth’s three neighboring planets will be seen close together lightening up the heaven after sunset as a celestial spectacle.
Interesting fact is that celestial spectacles that await astro-enthusiasts for a long time are seen for the next three-four nights.
The night sky over Mumbai will play host to see a pleasing sight of these three bright planets that will be lined up.
The professor Mayank Vahia from Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) concluded, “Mars takes more than a year to go around the Sun and Venus takes 200 odd days. Jupiter, of course, takes 12 years, so generally they’re not in the same part of the sky. So it’ll be quite a pleasing sight to see these bright planets all lined up and visible to the naked eye. But that’s all it is, a pretty sight. The convergence of the planets in the same part of the sky is of no significance by astronomy standards.”
Everyone who does not know about astronomy can easily see and identify the planets. “Venus will be the brightest, and then Jupiter and the least bright of the three will be Mars,” said Dr Aniket Sule, academic coordinator for the Astronomy Olympiad.
Directing the way of celestial spectacle, he said, “The planets will gather in the western sky, which is quite a boon for Mumbaikars because we have the sea to our west. Therefore we should get a clear viewing of the planets.”
However in last August and December last a similar celestial spectacle also occurred when Mars, Saturn and Venus, in conjunction with the Moon, were seen during the night.
According to N Raghuanandan Kumar of Planetary Society of India, Planets Jupiter, Venus and Mars are closing in and can be seen in the sky from tonight. While in the east direction, Jupiter and Mars can be seen till 1.30a.m and 11.45pm and Venus shall figure in the west direction up to 8pm.
Beside these three, Saturn can be seen from the early hours in the morning till sunrise in the eastern sky.
