Qatar residents will have chance to see and observe five planets, namely Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Mercury, and Venus over the sky during October 2018, Qatar Calendar House announced.
Moreover, three of them will be approaching the Moon during the month.
“These astronomical phenomena are very important because they guide amateur astronomers to the map of sky during the month and validate the astronomical calculations,” says QCH astronomy expert Dr Beshir Marzouk.
The giant Jupiter planet will be coming close to the Moon on Thursday, October 11 and it will be at angular four degrees distance south of the Moon's centre. The Qatar residents can observe Jupiter and the Moon together with naked eyes over the western horizon after the sunset till Jupiter set. On that day, Qatar sunset time will be 5:13 pm while the setting time of the Moon and Jupiter will be at 9:13 pm.
On October 15, Monday, Qatar residents can watch Saturn with its beautiful rings over the southwest horizon at the nearest point of the Moon. Saturn will be at 1.8 degrees south of the Moon's centre. Watch time: From sunset of 5:09 pm to Saturn set at 9:34 Pm
On October 18, Thursday, the red planet Mars will be at 1.9 degrees south of the Moon's centre over Qatar sky. The Qatar residents will have chance to see Mars and the Moon together with naked eye over southeast horizon from Sunset (5:06 pm) till Mars set, which will be at the midnight of Friday Doha local time.
