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Old 09-06-2005, 07:47 PM
Greg Bryant
AS&T Editor

Greg Bryant is offline
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Sydney
Posts: 352
Mike,

The actual tightest circle of Venus, Mercury, and Saturn, is on Sunday June 26th. It occurs just before 11hr UT, which is 9pm in Eastern Australia.

Interestingly, if you look over a ~ half-century period from 1970 onwards, there is only one other planetary trio gathering that's closer. That occurs in December of next year, and involves Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter. It's slightly closer to the Sun, the overall brightness will be a bit fainter...and it's a pre-dawn event.

This month's gathering is more fun!

Of course, with these types of events, it's best to begin following the planets several days/weeks earlier, and watch as they get closer. Besides, cloud cover on the key night in question has been know to spoil the rarest of celestial events!
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