Lunar occultation of Saturn

THE BIG THREE The top sights to observe or image this month

BEST TIME TO SEE: 4 January, 16:30–18:30 UT Lunar occultations of planets are fairly infrequent affairs. The last lunar occultation of Saturn occurred on 21 August 2024, although you'd need to go back to 2007 for one before that which was visible from the UK. While August's event involved a 97%-lit waning gibbous Moon moving in front of Saturn in the brightening dawn twilight, the transit on 4 January occurs in the early evening sky, the occulting Moon being a 25%-lit waxing crescent. Saturn's disappearance occurs under darkening skies after sunset. The Moon should be easy to spot around 16:30 UT, one-third of the way up the sky, just west of south. It'll also be 12.5° east-northeast of brilliant mag. –4.3 Venus at this time. Saturn will be a lot…

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BBC Sky at Night United Kingdom (Digital) - 1 Issue, January 2025

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