Well Two wonderful events are in fact expected in a few hours, in the evening of today 21 September: Saturn will be atoppositiontherefore with its brightness it will be at most, and our star will be largely obscured in one Extraordinary partial eclipse of sun (for which, however, we will have to settle for streaming). Even if, there will be emotions!
The partial eclipse of sun
On September 21 there is a realistic Partial eclipse of sunwhich can be admired live only in New Zealand and part of theAustralia (as well as in various islands of the Pacific Ocean and in Antarctica). For us it is already ready streamingwhich we recommend not to lose.
What is the partial eclipse of sun
When sun, moon and earth are perfectly aligned in this order, our satellite “covers” our star, which for a few minutes will therefore appear completely obscured, and in this case the extraordinary event called ‘is verified’Total eclipse of sun‘. If, on the other hand, alignment is not perfect, we talk about Partial eclipse of sun And our star appears “eaten” for one part.
The phenomenon is actually due toShadow of the Moon projected on earthwhich generates a cone of darkness on our planet, from which the phenomenon is observed. It is therefore not the moon in itself that obscures the sun as it is sometimes believed sometimes.
What will happen on September 21, 2025
As he explains Timeandathe next partial eclipse of sun will be visible in New Zealandas well as by a thin strip of the Eastern coast of Australia, from various Pacific islands and parts of Antarctica.
Of course, due to the time zone, even if the date in time UTC (Universal Coordinated Time) is September 21 (as will be from this part of the planet), the New Zealanders will be able to admire it at dawn on September 22.
The phenomenon will begin the September 21 at 7.29 pm Italian time and will last until 11.53 pm, with the maximum, which will arrive at80% coverage of the solar diskforeseen at 21.42.
An eclipse “for a few”
The next eclipse can therefore be seen by a few lucky ones on Earth, as can also be seen from the percentages in the table, but For New Zealand it is an almost unique opportunitygiven that most of the phenomena of this type that occur in the Pacific, do not touch the few lands that emerged in the ocean.
What about us? We do not make commitments and connect to the streaming made available by Timeanda.
Saturn to the opposition
And while we observe the second part of the eclipse with PC and cell phones, we look at the sky now, why Saturn It will be particularly brilliant. The Lord of the rings It will in fact be in the opposition, making itself particularly bright.
Which means when a planet is in the opposition (and what implies)
As the Inif explainsthe opposition is an alignment of the planet (in this case Saturn) with the sun and the earth, with this interposed between the two. For this to happen at night, the first must be Beyond the terrestrial orbitwhich in fact will take place on September 21st.
And in this situation the planet offers the Better observation conditions since it is located at the slightest distance from the earth and remains visible all night.
What we will see on September 21, 2025
Tonight the minimum distance of Saturn to his perigee (i.e. the point of greatest approach to the earth) is of 8,547 astronomical unitsequal to 1,278,577,000 km (on the map the Heaven of September 21, 2025 at about 22.30).
The show may also be seen naked eye (far from sources of light pollution and time permitting), but to better appreciate the details of the planet we recommend observing everything at least with a good binoculars.
And it does not end here, because Saturn will also be the protagonist of another event, the transition to another constellation: finished the path in Fishslowly moving with retrograde motion, on September 29 it will be again in the constellation ofAcquarium.
Let’s keep ready, it will be a special evening!
Sources: UAI / TIMEARDADATE / TIMEARDDATE / YOUTUBE
