Premium
This is an archive article published on June 28, 2011

See the moon eclipsing’ Venus on June 30

Skygazers can look forward to a rare astronomical event on June 30,when the Venus will come in a straight line with the Earth and the Moon.

Skygazers can look forward to a rare astronomical event on June 30,when the Venus will come in a straight line with the Earth and the Moon. The Moon will cover Venus at 1.20 pm for around 90 minutes. The Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) will webcast the entire event. “…The planet will be hidden behind the moon for close to one-and-a-half hour,” said Arvind Paranjpye,scientific officer in charge of public outreach programme at IUCAA.

The event will start at 13:20:40 and will continue till 14:55:31.

“Venus can be seen in broad daylight if the sky is clear but people rarely know where to look for it. With moon’s reference,Venus can be spotted without much difficulty. A similar event (occultation in astronomy) had taken place on April 23,1998,when Jupiter,earth and moon had come in a line ” said Paranjpye. The Occultation even on June 30 will be visible to the naked eye,however,one should be careful,not to look directly at the sun when looking at the sky,Paranjpye cautioned.

“A pair of 7×50 binoculars will be useful. People should be careful and should not point the binoculars at the sun.. The event will take place when the distance between the sun and the moon will not be much,” said Paranjpye,explaining it could be harmful to the eyes.

The event will be visible in parts of Africa,Europe and all of Asia.


Click here to join Express Pune WhatsApp channel and get a curated list of our stories

Latest Comment
Post Comment
Read Comments
Advertisement
Loading Taboola...
Advertisement