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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
National
Sophie Collins

Sky gazers will be able to see Saturn in Irish skies this week amid 'incredibly rare' event

Sky gazers will be able to catch a glimpse of the planet Saturn this week as the bright ‘star’ comes close to the moon.

On Tuesday, November 1, the ringed planet will edge just close enough to the moon for people in all corners of the earth to take a look.

The extremely rare event will see the planet making a rare close approach to the Moon and so anyone who captures it on camera is asked to send it to magazine@astronomy.ie for publication in Astronomy Ireland magazine.

READ MORE: Huge light spotted in Irish skies causes major confusion among stargazers

The Moon goes around the Earth roughly once every "moonth" - this is where the word "month" came from i.e. we used to base our calendar on the 12 Full Moons that we get each year, according to Astronomy Ireland.

Saturn is a huge planet 9 times wider than Earth and is famous for its rings which are thought to be the result of an icy moon that was shredded by Saturn's intense gravity

It is 1,400 million kilometers from Earth, which is about 3,500 times farther away than the Moon.

Saturn is visible until about 10:30 pm and should be visible to anyone, but if you want a closer look at its details you’ll need binoculars or a small telescope.

Meanwhile, Jupiter will continue to be visible until about 2:00 am each night this month.

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