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Singapore: Astronomy enthusiasts in Singapore are in luck, as from the evening of July 24 to the early hours of the next morning, the moon and Saturn will gradually approach each other and appear to be “touching”.
The phenomenon is called a conjunction and occurs when the moon, planets or stars appear close together in Earth’s night sky, according to NASA.
In this case, Saturn and the Moon will appear close to each other.
“This happens because Saturn and the moon are in different positions in their orbits around the Earth and the sun,” the Science Centre Astronomical Observatory (SCOB) said in response to CNA’s queries on Thursday (July 11).
The conjunction can be observed starting at 11:30 pm on July 24.
The moon and Saturn will reach their closest approach at 4:31 a.m. on July 25, SCOB noted.
“The moon and Saturn will rise very close to each other in the eastern sky late at night.
The observatory added: “As night falls, they will move closer together and appear to be ‘touching’ and almost impossible to separate with the naked eye.”
A similar conjunction occurred last year, but Moon and Venus instead.
During this conjunction, these objects in the sky may appear to be close to each other from an observer’s perspective, however “they are not necessarily physically close to each other,” SCOB said.
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