Venus, Sun in rare celestial phenomenon tomorrow

THE brightest planet of our solar system, ‘Venus’, will be at inferior conjunction with the Sun, moving in between the Sun and Earth on the evening of June 3 (Wednesday) at 8:37pm (Doha time), Qatar Calendar House (QCH) announced on Sunday.

The inferior conjunction of Venus is an important astronomical phenomenon as it is indicative of Venus’ transition from disappearance over the western horizon after sunset to reappearance over the eastern horizon before sunrise, QCH’s expert astronomer Dr Beshir Marzouk said.

The inferior conjunction occurs only for two planets -- Venus, and Mercury -- because their orbits around the sun are inside Earth’s orbit, Dr Marzouk added.

During the inferior conjunction of Venus, the centre of three celestial objects (Sun, Earth and Venus) will be aligned on a straight line while Venus will move very close to the Sun.

According to Dr Marzouk, residents of Qatar and other Arab countries will be able to watch the cosmological spectacle during the second half of June over the Eastern horizon with the duration of rising time of Venus and sunrise increasing during next few weeks.

On Wednesday, Venus and the Sun will rise and set simultaneously over the eastern and western horizons respectively and therefore, people will not be able to observe this phenomenon.

The inferior conjunction of Venus occurred last time on October 26, 2018 and will take place next on January 9, 2022.