Venus meets Mercury in the sky of Qatar on Wednesday evening
The Qatari Calendar House announced that the brightest planet of our solar system, “Venus”, will meet with the closest planets from the sun, “Mercury” in the sky of the State of Qatar and the countries of the Arab region, on the evening of Wednesday 25 Jumada al-Awwal 1443 AH, corresponding to December 29, 2021 AD; Mercury will be at an angular distance of 4.2 degrees of arc from the center of Venus.
Dr. mentioned. Bashir Marzouk (the astronomer expert at the Qatari Calendar House) said that the residents of the Arab countries, including the residents of the State of Qatar, will be able to see and monitor the two planets Venus and Mercury together above the western horizon in the evening sky with the naked eye or using astronomical devices after sunset on Wednesday at 4:54 pm local time Local Doha, and even before the sunset of Mercury at 6:05 pm Doha local time, bearing in mind that the best places to monitor this phenomenon are the places away from light and environmental pollutants and the absence of any obstacle to monitoring towards the western horizon.
The importance of this astronomical phenomenon lies in the fact that it is a good opportunity to see, monitor and photograph the planets Venus and Mercury together at the closest point on the page of the sky. And the countries of the Arab region to learn about the heavenly bodies that can be monitored and seen every night in the sky of the countries of the Arab region and the State of Qatar.
Dr. added. Bashir Marzouk said that Mercury had already reached its closest point to Venus on Saturday, May 29, when Mercury was at an angular distance of about half a degree of an arc from the center of Venus.
It is mentioned that during that period, the planet Venus can be observed in the form of a crescent that resembles the crescent of the first Hijri month; Mercury and Venus are distinguished from other planets in that they can be seen from the surface of the Earth in the form of different phases similar to the phases of the Moon in its orbit around the Earth; This is because the orbits of Mercury and Venus around the sun lie within the orbit of the Earth around the sun.
It is worth noting that Mercury is one of the rocky planets in our solar system, in addition to being the closest planet to the sun; It is away from the sun an average distance of 58 million kilometers, while Venus is the third brightest celestial body after the sun and the moon, and it is the second planet of the solar system in terms of its proximity to the sun; Venus is an average distance of 108 million km from the Sun.
