Talk:List of conjunctions (astronomy)

Reason for this article

Split from Conjunction_(astronomy_and_astrology)#Conjunctions_of_planets_in_right_ascension_2005-2020 to here; original article was cluttered by this list. Tfr000 (talk) 14:16, 30 May 2012 (UTC)

Sources needed

This is potentially a very useful article. However, currently, it lacks any references. Does anybody know where these data came from and how reliable they are?

Not sure what the source is for these tables, but pretty accurate values for planetary positions can be obtained from http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/. To my knowledge you would still need to do a bit of calculation to get exact data for a conjunction, though. Not sure whether that constitutes original research, but *technically* it is verifiable. -Jaxcp3 (talk) 15:22, 18 July 2013 (UTC)

Indicate visible conjunctions?

Can the tables indicate which conjunctions will be visible? I saw the May 13, 2016 conjunction of Mercury and Venus, less than 0.5 degree apart and thought that it would be a good one. But it is within 6 degrees of the Sun and the planets set before the Sun. It isn't going to be visible. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 03:46, 25 April 2016 (UTC)

Mercury conjunctions are the most common kind (follows the Sun around (360°/year), has ~290° of yearly motion on top of that (~23° average elongation, times 4, times 3.2 again)). Venus is not far behind. As a result so many conjunctions happen near the Sun that even the non-clear cot ones aren't a small number. And that's from any single location on Earth. In Europe and the northern Americas evening elongation is wasted on azimuth in September but it's used as efficiently as possible then near the Tropic of Capricorn. They'd have a much better view. If planets conjuncted anywhere but near the equator there will always be one pole (Antarctic or Santa Claus) where it doesn't rise by definition. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 09:27, 25 April 2016 (UTC)

Thanks for the reply, but my point is that for this conjunction, the Sun is still up and only 6 degrees away, so it won't be visible near the time of conjunction. But I just realized that it might be visible before dawn. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 17:07, 25 April 2016 (UTC)

Oops, I was going to read your reply a little later and then forgot all about it.

Forget about seeing this conjuction. You'll be trying to see a close morning star in spring from the Northern Hemisphere (right?) which is the worst season. You'll be trying to see a Mercury so dim (magnitude 5) that the skyglow from streetlights alone might obliterate it much higher up at midnight but it's ~1 degree above the horizon and like 3 minutes before sunrise instead. Even the Moon's invisible from that elongation alone and the lunar surface is alot like Mercury. (the Moon limit is called the Danjon limit — 7 degrees). It is so dim because there's a transit of Mercury only 4 days before so it's only 1% lit.

There's a better 0.5° Mercury-Venus conjuction only 2 months later! It's 11 degrees from the Sun – bring binoculars, lol.

If you want to see a real conjuction don't even bother — August 27, now that's a conjunction! Venus and Jupiter 0.06x° apart! (but only from Brazil or part of the Atlantic Ocean, still very close on the US East Coast but São Paulo/Rio is like the best spot). Even from the East Coast this is arguably the most visually impressive conjuction in a quarter century.

Jupiter and Saturn are 0.1 degrees apart on 12/21/20. That one's visible too. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 05:52, 30 April 2016 (UTC)

Collapsible Sorted Lists?

Given the fact this article contains long sets of sorted data, I feel that it would be more user friendly to view each year as a collapsible sorted list. Then the user can more easily find the particular year they're looking for. Just a thought. See the "Tables with captions" section of Help:Collapsing for a better idea of what I mean. Chevy111 (talk) 01:53, 19 April 2018 (UTC)

Extension for 2021 and on

Would some knowlegeable editor add data for this year and beyond? TomS TDotO (talk) 06:15, 3 May 2021 (UTC)

I will! Iamamodforjellymario (talk) 06:24, 8 June 2024 (UTC)

do you have time to help me? Just message me on my talk page. Iamamodforjellymario (talk) 21:35, 16 June 2024 (UTC)

Expanding "List of conjunctions (astronomy)"

What I'm thinking is that this page is a bit outdated, (the latest listed year being 2020) and that this page only lists a limited amount of years, (2005-2020) and is pretty crowded. So you see, I found this website that lists every conjunction from every year from 1950-2024 and is computed from NASA's DE430 planetary ephemeris so it is pretty accurate and reliable. My plan is to use that website to make a couple of pages about the "list of conjunctions", so each "list of conjunctions" page that I will make has 10 years of conjunctions in it. For example, the first page in the series will be "List of conjunctions (astronomy) from 1950-1959" and the second one will be "List of conjunctions (astronomy) from 1960-1969" et cetera. Give me your opinions on my idea! Iamamodforjellymario (talk) 06:48, 8 June 2024 (UTC)

It's been almost 10 days. I'm done with no-one responding to this valiant clause. I will do it myself. It's going to be nigh impossible, but at least I have the determination and guts to even attempt it. If you disagree with anything I'll do or have done, the only person to blame is yourself. If, If, on the other hand, you would like to help, message me on my talk page. If you do, I salute you. We can do this together. Iamamodforjellymario (talk) 21:47, 16 June 2024 (UTC)