Working out future planetary alignments

[CapturingTheNight]

Hi all,

A friend and I were talking about my "Fly Me To The Moons" image and he jokingly said that he didn't like it as the rings of Saturn were not framing Jupiter. Ie. Saturn perfectly behind Jupiter. Now I realise that due to the apparent size of these objects (as viewed from Earth) a shot like this is basically impossible, but it did get me thinking......

Is there a way or a program that you can use to work out when say Mars would be directly in front of Jupiter or Saturn as viewed from somewhere on Earth? I'm sure the celestial mechanics must line up at some point and I am also sure that it probably wont happen in my lifetime and probably happens once every million years or so. But, out of curiosity, when would this happen?

Cheers

Greg

[Octane]

From memory TheSky6 had a conjunction feature.

I'm pretty sure you can do the same with Starry Night Pro Plus 6, too.

I haven't tried. But, yeah, it shouldn't be too hard!

H

[Tinderboxsky]

Yes, TheSkyX has a "Conjunction Planner" for the Sun, Planets and our Moon. Quite handy.

Cheers
Steve.

[CapturingTheNight]

Thank you so much for the tips on those programs H and Steve :D Hmmmmm....now I have to work out if they are worth the price tag to answer my question.....

[Tinderboxsky]

Greg,

I have The SkyX Serious Astronomer version - full planetarium but cut down telescope pointing automation options.

The conjunction planner allows selection of two or more objects and a target angular separation. It will then search for conjunctions less than or equal to the target.

A quick search suggests that your thoughts of an occultation of Saturn by Jupiter is a long, long way off, if ever. It came close a couple of times before I stopped the search at 2050. I cannot remember how far one can project forward with SkyX - you could probably check on their website.

Steve.

[noeyedeer]

march 16 2080 @0401 seperation 0.1 degree nnw, based on a gold coast location

edit- might be an occultation somewhere

[noeyedeer]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_conjunction
wiki has something to say but I'm sure its mostly northern hemisphere events ... I didn't read into it all

[mithrandir]

From Starry Night Pro Plus:
2020-12-22 about 6 arcmin near Sydney
2080-03-15 also about 6 arcmin near Sydney

Since in 2080 I'll be well over 120 I stopped looking.

[noeyedeer]

lol I know :) it'll be cloudy anyways either way

[CapturingTheNight]

Thank you very much everyone :D Been doing a bit more sleuthing on this and according to one source the next true occultation of Saturn by Jupiter as seen from Earth happens in the year 7541 when it actually happens twice in that year. But no matter where I position myself on the earth in Stellarium on those two dates (10th of February and 21st of June, 7541) I can't get Saturn to go directly behind Jupiter. They get awfully close, but no occultation. Might have a play with altitude as well and see if I can pinpoint it.
Incidentally, according to the same site, the occultation previous to the 7541 one, happened in the year 6856 BC.



:D I have to make 101 years for that one......

[mithrandir]

My bad guys - arc min, not arc sec. Even so 6 arcmin is 1/5th the diameter of the Moon.

[ZeroID]

You'll be able to fly out into space somewhere to make it happen by then ... all safe in your little jar of formalin. :lol: