Home   News   Article

Subscribe Now

UK Stargazers are in for 4 astronomical treats - conjunction of Mercury and Venus plus passes by International Space Station, HTV9 and Starlink 4




Keep your eyes peeled

Mercury : image elements furnished by NASA
Mercury : image elements furnished by NASA

THE International Space Station has been on show over the UK for the last week and the fun continues this weekend. On Sunday, May 24, the cargo ship HTV9 will pass at 9.38pm, followed by the ISS at 10.07pm. An hour later you can spot them both again with HTV9 at 11.12pm, followed by ISS at 11.44pm. On Monday, May 25, ISS will pass the UK just once, at 10.56pm.

Plus Mercury is in conjunction with Venus, a rare treat, and - assuming the skies are clear - you should see them shining brightly over to the north west. The planetary pair are separated in the sky by just 1.3 degrees (77 arcminutes), which is just over two full-Moon diameters.

On Friday, Starlink 4 made a pass and it will do so again at 10.46pm on Sunday, May 24.

All of them will make their approach from the west and if the last few nights are anything to go by they will be incredibly bright.

Happy skywatching - and don't forget to send your photographs to geraldine.gardner@newburynews.co.uk to put into a cosmic gallery.

Watch historic rocket launch live



This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies - Learn More