Zee News
 
New Delhi, June 18: Pray, the weather doesn’t play a spoilsport tonight. It if does, you will be deprived of an opportunity to watch a breathtaking celestial event. On the night of June 18, the city will be able to see, with naked eyes, a dance of two brightest objects in the sky, the Venus and the moon. The moon will move in front of Venus, hiding it from the city. The event is called the “lunar occultation of Venus”.

“The lunar occultation is a routine celestial event, but it’s beautiful to observe,” says Dr Rathnasree, Director, Nehru Planetarium. Unlike other celestial objects, stars and planets, the moon is very close to the earth, and hence appears to be the biggest object in the night sky. As it travels across the horizon, the moon usually comes between the earth and a celestial object, thus blocking the view of the latter from the earth. But the object that gets hidden is usually so faint that the occultation is very difficult to notice. And this is why the occultation of Venus is a special event for the astronomy enthusiasts, say experts.

Venus is so luminous that the glare of the moon does not wash it out. The event also occurs when the moon is a crescent, a stage when it is not very dazzling. Put together, the conditions ensure that the observer does not need any optical instruments to catch a glimpse of one bright object blocking out the other.

Provided it does not rain and the sky is clear, the occultation will be visible in the western part of the sky at 9.30 pm on Monday. Venus and the moon will be very easy to spot, due to their proximity to each other. Right after nightfall, the moon will appear to move closer to Venus. At the designated time, Venus will get hidden behind the dark portion of the crescent moon. As the night progresses, Venus will emerge from the other side of the moon. This reappearance will, however, not be visible from Delhi.

The Nehru Planetarium and Vigyan Prasar, in collaboration with the Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators ( SPACE) and the Amateur Astronomers’ Association of Delhi, have organised an observation of this event at the Jantar Mantar.

“The instruments at Jantar Mantar are beautiful and simple to use. The Jai Prakash (at Jantar Mantar) will be used to observe the changing angle between the moon and the Venus, as they move closer,” says Dr Rathnasree.

Dubai Updates:

Dubai: The planet Venus will disappear behind the moon on June 18 during what is known as a Venus occultation that will be visible to the naked eye.

Spectators should look towards the moon at 7.55pm and will be able to view for only 30 minutes a crescent shaped moon with Venus shining brightly near the centre.

According to Hassan Ahmad of the Dubai Astronomy Group, the occultation of Venus by the moon occurs only once or twice a year.

"This is a very rare event and it will be spectacular. Venus is the brightest body after the moon so it will look quite amazing. The best sighting will be from Egypt but the occultation will commence over the UAE," said Ahmad.