• Sky above Katama on New Year's Eve.
  • Brendan MacDevette

Saturn and Venus Dance Together

Two bright planets, Venus and Saturn, appear as a close pair Saturday morning, an hour before sunrise. Venus is brilliant and unmistakable low in the southeastern sky. Saturn, considerably dimmer, appears nearby. The two appearing together in the zodiacal constellation Scorpius and it is called a conjunction.

The two are closer than two degrees apart. The scene continues in the week ahead, but they are closest together tomorrow morning. In the mornings ahead Saturn will appear slightly higher, away from Venus. Venus is slowly sinking closer to the horizon.

We had two conjunctions of Venus and Jupiter last year, one in the spring and the other in the late fall.  Conjunctions occur fairly often. All the planets in our solar system move along the zodiac and from time to time they pass each other. The inner planet Venus frequently passes by the planets. It is far more rare when Venus is not involved.

Don’t be confused into thinking that being brighter, Venus is bigger. Venus is tiny when compared to the size of Saturn. Their distances from the Earth is startling. Saturn is over one billion miles away, approximately ten times farther away from us than Venus. Venus is 114 million miles away, slightly more distant from the Earth as the Sun, which 93 million miles.
 

Sunrise and Sunset
Day Sunrise Sunset
Fri., Jan. 8 7:08 4:28
Sat., Jan. 9 7:08 4:29
Sun., Jan. 10 7:08 4:30
Mon., Jan. 11 7:07 4:31
Tues., Jan. 12 7:07 4:32
Wed., Jan. 13 7:07 4:33
Thurs., Jan. 14 7:06 4:34
Fri., Jan. 15 7:06 4:35
Temperatures and Precipitation
Day Max (Fº) Min (Fº) Inches
Dec. 31 47 39 0.62
Jan. 1 50 35 0.01
Jan. 2 43 32 0.00
Jan. 3 47 27 0.00
Jan. 4 50 29 0.00
Jan. 5 37 16 *0.06
Jan. 6 34 8 *0.01
Jan. 7 44 25 0.00

 

Water temperature in Edgartown harbor: 42º F

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