Starwatch: find a clear southern horizon to view moon’s Antares conjunction | Astronomy
TThe moon almost kisses the brilliant supergiante red antares this week. It is a spectacular meeting but which will require efforts to locate from the United Kingdom. To have a chance to see the conjunction, you will have to find somewhere with a south light horizon. A hill on which to stand would also be advantageous because the pair will already take place when they become visible.
The graph shows the view by looking at the southwest of London at 7:30 p.m. BST. The pair will already be visible against twilight deepening. The moon will have about five and a half days, in its wax croissant phase, and will have just under 30% of its illuminated visible surface.
The conjunction is much easier to spot from the southern hemisphere because Antares is in the southern constellation of Scorpius, the Scorpion. This means that it seems much higher in the sky than from the northern hemisphere.
From the southern hemisphere, due to the different angle to which the conjunction can be seen, the pair will still come closer. From certain parts of the southern Indian Ocean and on the island of Bouvet in the South Atlantic, the moon will pass in front of Antares, coming completely.
