Editing Conjunction (astronomy) (section)

==Notable conjunctions==

=== 1953 BC ===

<gallery>
File:Planet Meeting 1953BC.png|Meeting of all 5 bright planets on February 27, 1953, BC, for an observer at 50N 9E at 7 CET
</gallery>
On February 27, 1953, BC, Mercury, Venus, Mars and Saturn formed a group with an angular diameter of 26.45 arc minutes. Jupiter was on the same day only a few degrees away, so that on this day all 5 bright planets could be found in an area measuring only 4.33 degrees. David Pankenier and [[David Nivison]] have suggested that this conjunction occurred at the beginning of the [[Xia dynasty]] in China.<ref>{{citation
  | title = ''Mozi'' and the Dates of Xia, Shang, and Zhou: A Research Note
  | given = David W. | surname = Pankenier
  | journal = Early China | year = 1983–1985 | volume = 9/10 | pages = 175–183
  | jstor = 23351600
  | postscript = .
  }}</ref><ref>{{citation
  | surname = Nivison | given = David S. | author-link = David Shepherd Nivison
  | editor-surname = Schwartz | editor-given = Adam C.
  | title = The Nivison Annals
  | publisher = De Gruyter Mouton | year = 2018 | isbn = 978-1-5015-1454-8
  | doi = 10.1515/9781501505393 | doi-access = free
  | postscript = .
  }}</ref>

=== 929 ===

<gallery>
File:Conjunction between Mars and Jupiter on July4th,929.png|Conjunction of Mars and Jupiter on July 4, 929, for an observer at 50N 9E at 23 CET. Both planets reached nearly their greatest possible brightness
</gallery>
A triple conjunction between Mars and Jupiter occurred. At the first conjunction on May 26, 929, Mars, whose brightness was −1.8 mag, stood 3.1 degrees south of Jupiter with a brightness of −2.6 mag. The second conjunction took place on July 4, 929, whereby Mars stood 5.7 degrees south of Jupiter. Both planets were −2.8 mag bright. On August 18, 929, the −1.9 mag bright Mars stood 4.7 degrees south of Jupiter, which was −2.6 mag bright.

=== 1054 ===

<gallery>
File:View of Supernova1054.png|View on Supernova 1054 and the moon on July 5th, 1054, for an observer at 50N 9E at 3:15 CET
</gallery>

On July 5th, 1054  a [[SN 1054|supernova]] brighter than [[Venus (planet)|Venus]] appeared in the eastern part of constellation Taurus in the proximity of the waning crescent moon. The exact geocentric conjunction in right ascension took place at 07:58 UTC on this day with an angular separation of 3 degrees. It was perhaps the brightest star-like object in recorded history.{{cn|date=February 2025}} The event is possibly shown on two petroglyphs in Arizona.

=== 1503 ===

<gallery>
File:Meeting of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn on December 26th, 1503.png|Mars, Jupiter and Saturn in the constellation Gemini on December 26, 1503
</gallery>
Between December 22, 1503, and December 27, 1503, all three bright outer planets Mars, Jupiter and Saturn reached their opposition to sun and stood therefore close together at the nocturnal sky. During the opposition period 1503 Mars stood 3 times in conjunction with Jupiter (October 5, 1503, January 19, 1504, and February 8, 1504) and 3 times in conjunction with Saturn (October 14, 1503, December 26, 1503, and March 7, 1504). Jupiter and Saturn stood on May 24, 1504, in close conjunction with an angular separation of 19 arcminutes.

=== 1604 ===

<gallery>
File:View of Supernova1604.png|View on Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Kepler's Supernova on October 9, 1604, for an observer at 50N 9E at 19 CET
</gallery>
On October 9, 1604, a conjunction between Mars and Jupiter took place, whereby Mars passed Jupiter 1.8 degrees southward. Only two degrees away from Jupiter [[Kepler's Supernova]] appeared on the same day. This was perhaps the only time in recorded history a supernova took place near a conjunction of two planets.<br>
Saturn passed Kepler's Supernova on December 12th, 1604 33 arc minutes southly, which was however unobservable as the elongation to the sun was just 3.1 degrees. On December 24, 1604 Mercury stood in conjunction with Kepler's Supernova, whereby it was 1.8 degrees south of it. As the elongation of this event to the sun was 15 degree, it was in principle observable. On January 20th, 1605 Venus passed Kepler's Supernova 29 arc minutes northwards at an elongation of 43.1 degrees to the sun.

===1899===
In early December 1899 the Sun and the naked-eye planets appeared to lie within a band 35 degrees wide along the ecliptic as seen from the Earth. As a consequence, over the period 1–4 December 1899, the Moon reached conjunction with, in order, Jupiter, Uranus, the Sun, Mercury, Mars, Saturn and Venus. Most of these conjunctions were not visible because of the glare of the Sun.

===1962===
Over the period 4–6 February 1962, in a rare series of events, Mercury and Venus reached conjunction as observed from the Earth, followed by Venus and Jupiter, then by Mars and Saturn. Conjunctions took place between the Moon and, in turn, Mars, Saturn, the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Jupiter. Mercury also reached inferior conjunction with the Sun. The conjunction between the Moon and the Sun at [[new Moon]] produced a total solar eclipse visible in Indonesia and the Pacific Ocean,<ref>
{{cite web
 | last = Espenak
 | first = Fred
 | title = Total Solar Eclipse of 1962 Feb 05 
 | work = NASA Eclipse Web Site
 | publisher = NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
 | year = 2004
 | url = http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEplot/SEplot1951/SE1962Feb05T.GIF
 | format = GIF image file
 | access-date = 12 June 2013 }}
</ref>
when these five naked-eye planets were visible in the vicinity of the Sun in the sky.

===1987===
[[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]], [[Venus]] and [[Mars]] separately reached conjunction with each other, and each separately with the Sun, within a 7-day period in August 1987 as seen from the Earth. The Moon also reached conjunction with each of these bodies on 24 August. However, none of these conjunctions were observable due to the glare of the Sun.<ref name="meeus_astrontables1983" />

===2000===
In May 2000, in a very rare event, several planets lay in the vicinity of the Sun in the sky as seen from the Earth, and a series of conjunctions took place. Jupiter, Mercury and Saturn each reached conjunction with the Sun in the period 8–10 May. These three planets in turn were in conjunction with each other and with Venus over a period of a few weeks. However, most of these conjunctions were not visible from the Earth because of the glare from the Sun.<ref name="meeus_astrontables1983" /> NASA referred to May 5 as the date of the conjunction.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Planetary Alignment of 5 May 2000|url=http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/alignment.html|publisher=National Space Science Data Center – NASA|access-date=5 May 2016}}</ref>

===2002===
Venus, Mars and Saturn appeared close together in the evening sky in early May 2002, with a conjunction of Mars and Saturn occurring on 4 May. This was followed by a conjunction of Venus and Saturn on 7 May, and another of Venus and Mars on 10 May when their angular separation was only 18 arcminutes. A series of conjunctions between the Moon and, in order, Saturn, Mars and Venus took place on 14 May, although it was not possible to observe all these in darkness from any single location on the Earth.<ref name="meeus_astrontables1983" >
{{Citation
 | last = Meeus
 | first = Jean
 | title = Astronomical Tables of the Sun, Moon, and Planets
 | place = Richmond, Virginia
 | publisher = Willmann-Bell, Inc.
 | year = 1983
 | edition = 1
 | chapter = Chapter 1, Planetary Phenomena, 1976–2005
 | pages = 1.1–1.35
 | isbn = 0-943396-02-6 }}</ref>

===2007===
A conjunction of the Moon and Mars took place on 24 December 2007, very close to the time of the full Moon and at the time when Mars was at opposition to the Sun. Mars and the full Moon appeared close together in the sky worldwide, with an occultation of Mars occurring for observers in some far northern locations.<ref>{{cite journal
 | last =Paulson
 | first =Murray D.
 | title =Mars: The 2007 Opposition
 | journal =Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada
 | volume =101
 | pages =242–245
 | publisher =Royal Astronomical Society of Canada
 | year =2007
 | issue =6
 |bibcode = 2007JRASC.101..242P }}</ref>
A similar conjunction took place on 21 May 2016 and on 8 December 2022.

===2008===
<gallery>
File:Conjunção Lua-Vênus-Júpiter.jpg|Conjunction of Venus (left) and Jupiter (bottom), with the nearby crescent Moon, seen from [[São Paulo]], [[Brazil]], on 1 December 2008
File:Lune-Venus-Jupiter.JPG|Conjunction of the Moon, Venus, and Jupiter, seen from [[Quzhou]], [[China]] on 1 December 2008.
</gallery>
A conjunction of [[Venus]] and [[Jupiter]] occurred on 1 December 2008, and several hours later both planets separately reached conjunction with the crescent [[Moon]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/24nov_skyshow.htm |title=NASA – Spectacular Conjunction |access-date=2017-07-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090706061612/http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/24nov_skyshow.htm |archive-date=2009-07-06 |url-status=dead }}</ref> An [[occultation]] of Venus by the Moon was visible from some locations.<ref>{{cite web|title=Occultation of Venus 2008 December 01 16h UT1|url=http://asa.hmnao.com/cgi-bin/occnwdo.cgi?dir=2008%2Foccns&file=occn.2008Dec01.Venus&body=Venus|work=The Astronomical Almanac Online|publisher=Her Majesty's Nautical Almanac Office|access-date=2012-09-12|archive-date=2010-12-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101224231834/http://asa.hmnao.com/cgi-bin/occnwdo.cgi?dir=2008%2Foccns&file=occn.2008Dec01.Venus&body=Venus|url-status=dead}}</ref> The three objects appeared close together in the sky from any location on the Earth.

===2012===
:{{Main|2012 Venus Jupiter Mercury conjunction}}

===2013===

At the end of May, [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]], [[Venus]] and [[Jupiter]] went through a series of conjunctions only a few days apart.

===2015===

<gallery>
File:Moon Jupiter Venus.JPG|Moon, Jupiter (top), and Venus (right) at dusk seen from [[Madrid]], [[Spain]], on 20 June 2015
File:Venus-Jupiter Conjunction of June 30, 2015.jpg|Venus–Jupiter conjunction of June 30, 2015
</gallery>
June 30 – [[Venus]] and [[Jupiter]] come close together in a planetary conjunction; they came approximately 1/3 a degree apart. The conjunction had been nicknamed the "Star of Bethlehem."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/06/150629-spot-venus-jupiter-conjunction-sky/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150702085433/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/06/150629-spot-venus-jupiter-conjunction-sky/|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 2, 2015|title=Venus and Jupiter Get Bright and Tight in This Week's Sky|date=29 June 2015|website=nationalgeographic.com}}</ref>

===2016===

On the morning of January 9, [[Venus]] and [[Saturn]] came together in a conjunction<ref>https://lightworkers.org/page/218837/earthsky-news-jan-8-awesome-venussaturn-conjunction-and-more-for-january-2016{{Dead link|date=July 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

On August 27, [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]] and [[Venus]] were in conjunction, followed by a conjunction of [[Venus]] and [[Jupiter]], meaning that the three planets were very close together in the evening sky.

===2017===

On the morning of November 13, [[Venus]] and [[Jupiter]] were in conjunction, meaning that they appeared close together in the morning sky.

===2018===
On the early hours of January 7, [[Mars]] and [[Jupiter]] were in conjunction. The pair was only 0.25 degrees apart in the sky at its closest.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://earthsky.org/tonight/marsjupiter-conjunction-on-january-7|title=Mars/Jupiter conjunction on January 7 {{!}} EarthSky.org|website=earthsky.org|date=6 January 2018 |language=en-US|access-date=2018-01-11}}</ref>

===2020===

<gallery>
File:C2020F3.P1023630.jpg|right|[[Kappa Ursae Majoris|Talitha Borealis]] in conjunction with the comet [[C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE)]] on 18&nbsp;July 2020 21:30 UTC with an attitude von 17° above the north horizon of [[Berlin]] (image height = 4°). At the lower edge of the picture, a bit left from the centre there is the neighbour star [[Alkaphrah]] (Kappa Ursae Majoris respectively ''Talitha Australis''). The distance between Talitha Borealis and C/2020 F3 was seven [[arc minute]]s.
</gallery>

During most of February, March, and April, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn were close to each other, and so they underwent a series of conjunctions: on March 20, Mars was in conjunction with Jupiter, and on March 31, Mars was in conjunction with Saturn.
On December 21, Jupiter and Saturn appeared at their closest separation in the sky since 1623, in an event known as a [[great conjunction]].

===2022===

<gallery>
File:Konjunktion Pallas-Sirius am 9 Oktober 2022 mit kurzer Brennweite beschriftet.png|Conjunction of Sirius and Pallas (marked with an arrow) on October 9, 2022, photographed with an [[Objective (optics)|objective]] with a [[focal length]] of 75 millimetres
File:Konjunktion Pallas-Sirius am 9 Oktober 2022 mit langer Brennweite beschriftet.png|Conjunction of Sirius and Pallas (marked with an arrow) on October 9, 2022, photographed with an [[Objective (optics)|objective]] with a [[focal length]] of 300 millimetres
File:Venus-Jupiter-20230301.jpg|Venus and Jupiter on 1 March 2022 from [[South Africa]]
</gallery>

Planetoid [[2 Pallas|Pallas]] passed [[Sirius]], the brightest star in the night sky, on October 9 to the south at a distance of 8.5 arcminutes (source: Astrolutz 2022, ISBN 978-3-7534-7124-2). As Sirius is far south of the ecliptic only few objects of the solar system can be seen from earth close to Sirius.<br />
At this occasion Pallas had not only the lowest angular distance to Sirius in the 21st century, but also since its discovery in 1802.<br />
In the 19th century the greatest approach of Pallas and Sirius took place on October 11, 1879, when 8.6 mag bright Pallas passed Sirius 1.3° southwest and in the 20th century the lowest distance between Pallas and Sirius was reached on October 12, 1962, when Pallas, whose brightness was also 8.6 mag, stood 1.4° southwest of the brightest star in the sky.