by William J. Bechaver
EARTH — As we began to watch the positions of Mars and Saturn a couple of months ago, they were in completely different quadrants of the sky.
But now, Mars has caught up to Saturn in its orbit, and we here on Earth are rapidly gaining on them both. The gap between the two will appear to be negligible within the week.
The time to look will be the night after the second blue moon of the year, which occurs on the last night of March.
On the night of Sunday, April 1, the two planets will lie less than two degrees apart as they rise about an hour after midnight, or in the early morning hours of April 2.
If you go out a couple hours after midnight, or anytime on Monday morning before the sunrise begins to lighten the sky, look to the south east, and you should see the two planets very close together.
Both planets are not very bright right now, so they will not be as prominent as other recent conjunctions. Yet, it will be a sight to look for in the early morning hours.
If you have trouble picking them out, don’t fret. Next weekend, the moon will join the pair, and they will not have moved far from each other by then. With the moon moving into that part of the sky, not only will it make them easier to spot, it will also add one more element to form a more impressive conjunction.
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