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Save the Date: From January 25 to January 27, a rare discovery will be made in terms of our solar system planet alignment. Due to our system’s slightly asymmetrical elliptical structure, every century or so, the gravitational forces and masses created by black holes and other celestial objects shifts slightly causing near-collision with other planets. Such is the case with our first and fourth planet; mercury and mars, respectively. Around the end of the month, around midnight, an observer will be able to see the two planets juxtaposed adjacently to each other, almost making collision-an event that NASA writer and exrcutive Phillip Newton describes as “an event this generation will never be able to witness again”.
“Mercury shines at a magnitude of -0.2 as it sinks lower each day”, reports NASA. “Meanwhile, Mars is now just emerging from the sun’s glare at a 1.3 magnitude ember”. As the two planets separate in opposite directions, they will still merge with each other during January 25 through January 27. NASA also reports that Mars will be far dimmer than Mercury, despite having a slightly larger celestial mass due to the eclipse created from the alignment. NASA approximates that the bodies about a ¼ of a diameter away from each other or “the size of one half-moon”.
Newton and the crew at NASA describe another astronomical event occurring throughout this time. “On a western horizon, the first part of a two-part event will take place. The waning gibbious moon will be positioned about 4 and a half degrees away right of Regulus, the brightest star in the Leo the Lion constellation. Eventually, the moon and Regulus will rise in the east-Northeast where the moon sit 4 degrees to the lower left of the star”.
NASA reports that both of these events will be very difficult to see in the night sky. “You will near a pair of high-optic binoculars and an obstructed horizon towards the respective directions. In extreme cases, a small telescope may come in handy”. Still, the event will not stop thousands of scientists and astronomers from staying up at night to catch even the slightly glimpse of these events.
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