Uranus, the ‘ice giant’ planet, will be in conjunction with the sun at 12:02pm Doha time today, Qatar Calendar House (QCH) has said.
“The ‘superior conjunction’ of Uranus is a very important astronomical phenomenon because it is an indicator of the Uranus’s transition from the evening sky (over the western horizon after sunset) to appear in morning sky (over the eastern horizon before sunrise),” QCH astronomy expert Dr Beshir Marzouk has explained in a statement.
During ‘superior conjunction’, Uranus will be close to the sun. Moreover, it will pass behind the sun and hence cannot be observed at all for the next few weeks from the Earth, the statement notes.
People in Qatar will be able to see Uranus with astronomical telescopes over the eastern horizon after mid-May approximately. Today, Uranus will rise in the Qatar sky at the same time as sunrise and both Uranus and the sun will be set on the western horizon at approximately the same time. So, it will be impossible to observe Uranus today, QCH adds.
Dr Marzouk said the ‘superior conjunction’ of Uranus occurs once every year during April, with the next conjunction taking place on April 30, 2021.
During the ‘superior conjunction’ of Uranus, the centre of the sun, Earth and Uranus will be aligned along a straight line. The sun will be between Uranus and Earth, and the ‘ice giant’ will reach the farthest point from Earth during this phenomenon.
