This story originally appeared in WIRED in Spanish and has been translated from Spanish.
August has brought us many spectacular sights in the night sky: a supermoon, meteor showers and supercharged aurorasMars and Jupiter also appear unusually close in the night sky, in what is known as a conjunction. They appeared closest during the early morning hours of August 14 and are now gradually moving apart, and will not be this close in the sky again until 2033.
But while they are still close, at the end of the month on August 27, they will be joined by a third protagonist, the moon, producing a rare triple conjunction of the three nearby bodies. The moon will be in its crescent phase and, according to the constellation tracking app, Walk of the starswill be illuminated by 40 percent. This decrease in brightness will allow us to see the red dot of Mars and the largest star Jupiter, which is located next to it.
You don’t need telescopes or binoculars to enjoy the conjunction, but you must be in a place away from light pollution. Experienced photographers in observing astronomical events recommend going to a high place to contemplate the phenomenon, such as a mountain or the roof of a house, but if you do, make sure you are well sheltered and protected from the cold.
NASA says the triangle formed by the Moon, Mars and Jupiter will be visible toward the west about an hour before sunrise. If an observer uses advanced observing instruments, they will also be able to see the red giant stars Aldebaran above the triangle and Betelgeuse below it in the northern hemisphere.
Distinguishing between planets and stars
Although they may appear similar in the sky, planets and stars do not behave in the same way. Stars maintain a fixed position that changes only with the season. Planets, on the other hand, move throughout the night along a line known as the ecliptic. In addition, stars twinkle or appear to vary in brightness, while planets maintain a constant luminosity.
From Earth, only five planets can be seen with the naked eye: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury. Each body appears regularly in the sky, but because they move at different speeds and their distance from Earth varies, they have unique behaviors at night. For example, Mercury and Venus can only be seen at dusk or dawn, while Mars or Jupiter shine all night long.