Talk:List of conjunctions (astronomy)

Reason for this article[edit]

Text and/or other creative content from Conjunction_(astronomy_and_astrology)#Conjunctions_of_planets_in_right_ascension_2005-2020 was copied or moved into List_of_conjunctions_(astronomy). The former page's history now serves to provide attribution for that content in the latter page, and it must not be deleted as long as the latter page exists.

Split from Conjunction_(astronomy_and_astrology)#Conjunctions_of_planets_in_right_ascension_2005-2020 to here; original article was cluttered by this list. Tfr000 (talk) 14:16, 30 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Sources needed[edit]

This is potentially a very useful article. However, currently, it lacks any references. Does anybody know where these data came from and how reliable they are?

Not sure what the source is for these tables, but pretty accurate values for planetary positions can be obtained from http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/. To my knowledge you would still need to do a bit of calculation to get exact data for a conjunction, though. Not sure whether that constitutes original research, but *technically* it is verifiable. -Jaxcp3 (talk) 15:22, 18 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Indicate visible conjunctions?[edit]

Can the tables indicate which conjunctions will be visible? I saw the May 13, 2016 conjunction of Mercury and Venus, less than 0.5 degree apart and thought that it would be a good one. But it is within 6 degrees of the Sun and the planets set before the Sun. It isn't going to be visible. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 03:46, 25 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Mercury conjunctions are the most common kind (follows the Sun around (360°/year), has ~290° of yearly motion on top of that (~23° average elongation, times 4, times 3.2 again)). Venus is not far behind. As a result so many conjunctions happen near the Sun that even the non-clear cot ones aren't a small number. And that's from any single location on Earth. In Europe and the northern Americas evening elongation is wasted on azimuth in September but it's used as efficiently as possible then near the Tropic of Capricorn. They'd have a much better view. If planets conjuncted anywhere but near the equator there will always be one pole (Antarctic or Santa Claus) where it doesn't rise by definition. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 09:27, 25 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the reply, but my point is that for this conjunction, the Sun is still up and only 6 degrees away, so it won't be visible near the time of conjunction. But I just realized that it might be visible before dawn. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 17:07, 25 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Oops, I was going to read your reply a little later and then forgot all about it.

Forget about seeing this conjuction. You'll be trying to see a close morning star in spring from the Northern Hemisphere (right?) which is the worst season. You'll be trying to see a Mercury so dim (magnitude 5) that the skyglow from streetlights alone might obliterate it much higher up at midnight but it's ~1 degree above the horizon and like 3 minutes before sunrise instead. Even the Moon's invisible from that elongation alone and the lunar surface is alot like Mercury. (the Moon limit is called the Danjon limit — 7 degrees). It is so dim because there's a transit of Mercury only 4 days before so it's only 1% lit.

There's a better 0.5° Mercury-Venus conjuction only 2 months later! It's 11 degrees from the Sun – bring binoculars, lol.

If you want to see a real conjuction don't even bother — August 27, now that's a conjunction! Venus and Jupiter 0.06x° apart! (but only from Brazil or part of the Atlantic Ocean, still very close on the US East Coast but São Paulo/Rio is like the best spot). Even from the East Coast this is arguably the most visually impressive conjuction in a quarter century.

Jupiter and Saturn are 0.1 degrees apart on 12/21/20. That one's visible too. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 05:52, 30 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Collapsible Sorted Lists?[edit]

Given the fact this article contains long sets of sorted data, I feel that it would be more user friendly to view each year as a collapsible sorted list. Then the user can more easily find the particular year they're looking for. Just a thought. See the "Tables with captions" section of Help:Collapsing for a better idea of what I mean. Chevy111 (talk) 01:53, 19 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Extension for 2021 and on[edit]

Would some knowlegeable editor add data for this year and beyond? TomS TDotO (talk) 06:15, 3 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]