The triple conjunction phenomenon makes mercury appear the brightest at dawn

KOMPAS.com- Following the conditions of the new moon phase which is also present today, Sunday (15/11/2020), starting from this evening the phenomenon of conjunction or parallelism between the three celestial bodies will also occur.

This phenomenon is the conjunction or alignment of Mercury-Venus and Spica.

After healing with the Moon for three consecutive days, Spica, the brightest star in the Virgo constellation, will again experience the triple conjunction with Venus and Mercury.

The National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (Lapan) in its official statement stated that this triple Mercury-Venus-Spica conjunction will last five days, from 15 to 20 November 2020.

Also read: 3 Sky Phenomenon Cause Mercury looks brighter at dawn

The third day, November 17, will be the culmination of the conjunction of Venus and Spica.

At this peak, the angle of separation of the two is 3.8 degrees before Spica finally moves away from Venus and moves further away from Mercury.

If you want to observe the conjunction between these three celestial bodies, you can observe them from 04.45 WIB from the East-Southeast direction.

The researcher of the Center for Science and Space (Pussainsa) Lapan, Andi Pangurang, said that the aspect of the magnitude of Venus ranges from -394 to -3.93 and its distance is between 201 million kilometers and 205 million kilometers from Earth.

Read also: Why can you see Mercury and Venus sometimes in the morning or in the evening?

“Meanwhile, the magnitude of Spica is relatively constant at +0.95. Spica itself is 249.75 light years or about 250 trillion km from Earth, so this conjunction is a visual conjunction,” Andi said.

The triple phenomenon of the Mercury-Venus-Spica conjunction is also one of the reasons why the appearance of the planet Mercury has become brighter throughout the period of November 2020.

Obviously, observation works best when the weather is clear, the area where you are observing is free of light pollution and obstacles that can block the field of view.