Sky show: Jupiter-Saturn Conjunction vows skygazers

Students, astronomers catch sight of the once in a life-time celestial spectacle through telescopes in the wintry Decemeber sky of Hyd

Hyderabad: Avid sky watchers, amateur astronomers, school students and astronomy enthusiasts from Hyderabad on Monday got an opportunity to witness once-in-a-lifetime celestial event when two two-major planets of the solar system, came very close to each other, known as Jupiter in Conjunction with Saturn.

Although, in terms of visibility, the splendid celestial phenomena was supposed to reach its peak at around 11.15 pm on Monday, throughout evening, there was a buzz, as students along with teachers and astronomy guides occupied vantage points and used their amateur telescopes to search the wintry December sky of Hyderabad for the two planets to come together.

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“Yes, we were able to witness the celestial spectacle along with the school students. Though, the interstellar event was supposed to occur close to midnight, people in India were able to witness the close encounter of the two planets easily for an hour after sunset between 6.15 pm and 7.30 pm. Even to the naked eyes, they appeared like non-twinkling star-like objects,” says founder of Planetary Society, India, N Sri Raghunandan Kumar.

The Planetary Society, India (PSI), collaborated with Telangana Minorities Residential School Educational Institution Society (TMREIS) to organise a ‘Saturn-Jupiter Conjunction’ watching event at Telangana Minority Residential Junior College (TMRJC), Barkas.

The PSI installed imported telescopes for the purpose. “We also live streamed the event on a projector. Individuals who have missed-out on witnessing the celestial event can be witnessed on the western sky till January 3 and 4 after the sunset. Importantly people can notice the growing distance between these two planets,” Raghunandan said.

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