Very good news for astronomy lovers is what the month of February brings us to our planet. Two weekends ago we had the pleasure of seeing the first “supermoon” of the year.
Now three astronomical phenomena are coming in the following days, this February 18 we can see the approach of the moon with Mars, on February 19 we can see it with Jupiter and on February 20 with Saturn.
These planets are currently aligned in the celestial vault, and we can appreciate them with the naked eye if we turn our gaze to the southeast during the next few days.
The waning moon will pass near these planets as it travels eastward and will occur during the early hours of this February 18, 19 and 20, just before sunrise.
The recommendations they give to see these astronomical phenomena is that the less light we have, the better. In addition to moving away from the places where there is greater population.
This astronomical event will occur in the early morning, where the moon and Mars are expected to meet with a small separation, looking next to each other, Mars as a red and weak dot and the moon next to it, as explained by the astro-photographer, Roberto Antezana in conversation with T13.
On that same day, most North American observers (except Alaska and Hawaii) will see the hiding of Mars with the moon, where the red planet will disappear behind the satellite and then reappear.
In this case, we will be able to appreciate the same thing indicated above during the early morning of that day but with Jupiter, where it is located next to each other, Jupiter will look like a bright white star, this phenomenon can be seen throughout Chile.
After the Moon passes between the red planet and Jupiter, it will continue its descent through the sky until it approaches Saturn, to finally disappear across the horizon when it becomes a new Moon on February 23.
The observers in the southern hemisphere will have a better observation of this phenomenon since Saturn is now visible from there.
Source: Meganoticias