When the trio came calling

The close grouping of three planets in a triple juxtaposition — a rare celestial phenomenon — was a delight for city star gazers who didn’t miss the opportunity to see the celestial triangle formed by planets Mercury, Venus and Jupiter on Friday. A similar assemblage took place in 2011.

Gujarat Science city (GSC) had arranged telescopic view of the event at its amphitheatre for students and visitors where Science and Technology Secretary, SJ Haider and executive director of GSC, Dilip Gadhavi, were present. Explaining the rare cosmological event, senior scientist at GSC and advisor with Gujarat Council of Science and Technology, Dr Narottam Sahoo said, “The conjunction is an astronomical wonder in which the planets are actually millions of kilometers away from each other. However, they appear fairly close when viewed from Earth. The best time to view this celestial triangle is 30 to 60 minutes after sunset.”

Explaining the details, project assistant at GSC, Pranav Upadhyay said: “On May 26, all the three planets will reach their tightest huddle in the sky, forming an equilateral triangle.”

The lowest of all is Jupiter, and brighter one will be Venus and higher up and a little fainter than the other two is Mercury. They ‘spin’ around each other changing their positions in the sky from one night to another, which seem as if they are dancing.