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Old 05-10-2020, 03:19 PM
glend (Glen)
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Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Lake Macquarie
Posts: 7,033
The Challenge the Super Conjunction Viewers Face

As we were warned by Saturine below, the practicalities of viewing or imaging the Super Conjunction are not insignificant. I was having a look at Sky Safari today for info on when it might be best to view the Super Conjunction around 19-21 December; sadly because it is occurring during the Summer Soltice period, there is an enormous amount of daylight to contend with, and the two planets are not very far away from the Sun. It appeared that at sunset, at my latitude, the pair of Saturn and Jupiter will be very low in the western sky and obscured by trees. Given the long twilight period after actual sunset, there would appear to be no chance, certainly no chance to image the event, in darkness.
While there maybe a chance to observe the conjunction visually, during daylight when they are directly over head, the proximity of the Sun and the risk of sunlight flooding the scope is significant and thus dangerous. I have viewed daylight conjunctions before (Moon and Saturn for example) and the use of a red filter made it feasible (assuming you can Goto) the location precisely, but this one may be impossible here.
I encourage anyone thinking of attempting observing or imaging, to do your research now, find out how your location is going to be impacted by the position of the planet's, and the Sun.

Anyone with suggestions is welcome to provide advice.
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