A triple
conjunction is
an astronomical event,
where two planets or
a planet and a star meet
each other three times in a short period:
(1) Triple conjunctions between two exterior/superior planets - both in opposition
(Sun - Earth - Exterior Planet A -
Exterior Planet B):
Triple conjunctions between the bright exterior planets are very rare: the last
triple conjunctions between Mars and Jupiter occurred in 1789-1790, in 1836-1837
and in 1979-1980. The next events of this kind will be again in 2123.
(2) Triple conjunctions of inferior planets with
exterior
planets or stars -
exterior
planet in conjunction &
inferior planet in inferior
conjunction.
(Exterior
Planet -
Sun - Inferior Planet - Earth). "If Mars is
in conjunction with the Sun, there is often a triple conjunction between Mars
and Mercury or between Mars and Venus."
wiki
(3) Triple conjunctions between Mercury and Venus
(Sun - Mercury
- Venus
- Earth) - both in inferior
conjunction.
This event is much rarer?
Year | Involved planets | 1st Conjunction | 2nd Conjunction | 3rd Conjunction | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1836/37 | Mars-Jupiter | November 14, 1836 | March 5, 1837 | March 23, 1837 | > 4 months |
1979/80 | Mars-Jupiter | December 13, 1979 | March 2, 1980 | May 4, 1980 | > 4 months |
So the one in 2123 may also last for only 4-5 months. But will it be in the 1st half of the year? Yes: 1/16 - 3/4 - 6/3
Side Note: Possible Explanations of the Star of Bethlehem
first planet | second planet | |||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
JD | Date | Time | first planet | second planet | R.A. | Dec. | Dist. | PA | Elongation | Magnitude | Phase |
Planet Angular Radius |
Horizontal Parallax | Magnitude | Phase | Planet Angular Radius |
Horizontal Parallax | Occultation |
(UTC) | (J2000.0) | [arcsec] | [deg] | [deg] | [mag] | [] | [arcsec] | [arcsec] | [mag] | [] | [arcsec] | [arcsec] | ||||||
2496484.56271 | 16-01-2123 | 01:30:18.0 | Mars | Jupiter | 12:10:56.270 | +02:07:11.21 | 6129.36 | 198.0 | -113.7 | 0.1 | 0.92 | 4.7 | 8.8 | -2.2 | 0.99 | 98.2 | 1.8 | 0 |
2496531.98648 | 04-03-2123 | 11:40:31.5 | Mars | Jupiter | 12:01:06.930 | +04:08:40.54 | 8635.22 | 203.0 | -164.3 | -1.1 | 0.99 | 6.8 | 12.8 | -2.5 | 1.00 | 143.5 | 2.0 | 0 |
2496623.37192 | 03-06-2123 | 20:55:33.5 | Mars | Jupiter | 11:32:45.694 | +03:56:18.24 | 1542.49 | 27.8 | 99.3 | 0.3 | 0.89 | 4.3 | 8.1 | -2.1 | 0.99 | 90.7 | 1.7 | 0 |
2496726.14185 | 14-09-2123 | 15:24:15.6 | Venus | Jupiter | 12:29:43.099 | -02:00:17.61 | 22.81 | 138.9 | 16.3 | -3.9 | 0.96 | 5.1? | 5.4 | -1.7 | 1.00 | 60.4? | 1.4 | 1 |
Note:
The last column "occultation" is set to 1 when occultation of the two planets is visible from somewhere on Earth, and 0 when occultation is not visible.
Why? Mars & Jupiter are exterior planets so should be easy to observe.
"These are the most interesting triple conjunctions, because all three conjunctions can be seen very easily, because of the great elongation of the planets or stars involved. " wiki
? - something doubt: Venus transits Jupiter - Venus's planet angular radius is 5.1 (too small, not about 10?) & Jupiter's planet angular radius is 60.4 (too large, not about 30?).
wiki
合 (天體位置) (conjunction) http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%90%88_(%E5%A4%A9%E9%AB%94%E4%BD%8D%E7%BD%AE) 合是位置天文學的一個名詞,它的意義是從一個選定的特定天體 (通常是地球) 觀察到二個天體在天空上的位置彼此非常靠近。
Transits and occults are very close distance conjunctions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/22nd_century 2123: Triple conjunction of MarsJupiter. (when are 1st, 2nd & 3rd conjunction?) June 9, 2123: Long-duration lunar eclipse of approximately 106.1 minutes.[13] September 14, 2123: At 15:28 UTC, Venus transits Jupiter.
6/5-6/2012 (Tue-Wed)
金星凌日 - 最近的一對金星凌日事件是2004年6月8日和2012年6月5-6日。之前的一對是1874年12月和1882年12月,而在2012年之後,下一對的金星凌日会發生在2117年和2125年的12月。
The next time this will happen (as seen from Earth) will be on 22 November 2065 at about 12:43 UTC, when Venus near superior conjunction (with an angular diameter of 10.6") will transit in front of Jupiter (with an angular diameter of 30.9"); however, this will take place only 8° west of the Sun, and will therefore not be visible to the unaided/unprotected eye.
There are only 18 mutual planetary transits and occultations as seen from Earth between 1700 and 2200. Note the long break of events between 1818 and 2065.
The unusually long gap in mutual occultations (in fact it is a transit) during our time spans nearly 250 years from 1818 and the next one is in 2065. Both of these occultations are Jupiter-Venus events and the most spectacular type.
What of the next one in 2065 which a few young people have a chance of seeing? This will be an (partial) occultation of Jupiter by Venus but it is only 8o from the Sun and will be essentially unobservable. It surely would have been a beautiful occultation with two bright planets covering each other. Similar occultations occurred between these two planets in 1570 and 1818 which surely would have been noticed by observers but no historical records have surfaced yet. There is one more predicted in 2123 and will take place at an elongation of 16o from the Sun.
Year | Date / U. Time | Elongation from the Sun[1] |
Venus, Jupiter Diameters Geocentric Separation |
Comments | |
2 BC | 17 Jun 17:53 UT | 45oW | 26",32",28" | Very Large Elongation Occurs over Middle East myMirror |
1.
at inferior conjunction? because Venus is so big! 若是中間經過,可以說是木環蝕. 2. very far away from Sun so good for layman to observe? |
1210 | 17 Sep 10:35 UT | 7oW | 10",31", 0" | Too Close to the Sun Central occultation |
|
1570 | 5 Feb 7:47 UT | 25oW | 11",31",18" | Occurred over South Atlantic, Argentina No Historic Record |
|
1818 | 3 Jan 21:51 UT | 16oW | 10",30",12" | Occurred over Far East No History Record Over Unpopulate Area |
|
long gap | |||||
2065 | 22 Nov 12:47 UT | 8oW | 10",29",14" | Too Close to the Sun | |
2123 | 14 Sep 15:26 UT | 16oE | 10",29", 6" | Occurs over the Pacific Ocean | |
Next: 8 Oct 2335, 12 Feb 2912, 8 Nov 2954, 13 Aug 2986 src |
[1]The smaller the elongation, the closer to Sun
so it is more difficult to be observed by
unaided/unprotected eyes.
[2]At superior conjunction, Venus looks smaller, only one third of
the diameters of Jupiter. At inferior conjunction, Venus looks much
larger, nearly as big as Jupiter.
All the other Venus occultations of Jupiter have similar restrictions