What was that dot near the Super Blue Moon?
South Africans saw a Super Blue Moon earlier this week, which only happens once in a blue moon! But what was that bright ‘dot’?
Anyone who looked up in the night sky in the early hours of Thursday morning (SA time), would’ve seen a spectacular cosmic event, namely, a Super Blue Moon – which only happens once in a blue moon!
But what was that bright dot?
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WATCH THE SKY
Here’s what you should know about the bright planet that appeared near the full moon at some parts of the year.
A supermoon is a special event where the moon appears to be marginally larger than usual when it’s full. If you watched the sky earlier this week, then you should’ve been able to catch a sight of the spectacular supermoon in all its glory.
According to TimeandDate.com this isn’t the only thing you may be able to see when you look up to the sky.
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Sometimes planets and other objects might also be visible at the same time.
THE SUPER MOON NEAR SATURN
According to the website EarthSky.org, people in the Southern Hemisphere should be able to see several planets in the night sky at the same time as the Supermoon.
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One of the planets that will appear to viewers, which can be seen as a bright “dot” which appears near the moon, is Saturn.
MORE ABOUT THE VISIBLE PLANET
Information from the NASA website says that Saturn is the second-largest planet in the solar system, and located approximately 1.4 billion kilometres from the sun.
Saturn is mostly made up out of gas, with an atmosphere made from hydrogen and helium.
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As far as scientists know, there is no active life on Saturn, though there might be live organisms to be found on any of the moons around the planet.
If you want to see Saturn at this time of year, all you’ve got to do is look up – it’s not just the Blue Super Moon that you might want to see!