An impression of the city sky on July 1 night

“It’s magic,” said Manomohan Mitra, the globetrotter who had used strange foreign coins to explain a stranger universe full of planets and stars to his niece’s son in Ray’s 1991 film Agantuk. And if the skies are clear, you can get to watch the planets Venus, Saturn and Jupiter perform a similar magic above the city on July 1 when they will appear almost in a straight line.

Astronomers are of the opinion that it will be a stunning sight on the night of July 1 as Venus will be less than a degree closer to Saturn.

Soon after sunset, Jupiter will appear on the eastern sky, while Venus and Saturn will appear in the west.

“It will be a sight of two planets, where Saturn will almost overlap Venus and that, too, in very close proximity. This will be a rare event,” said Debiprosad Duari, director, research and academics, MP Birla Planetarium.

“This will be a visual treat. Venus, as always, is a bright planet. It will shine white in the western sky when the event occurs. And Saturn will be a little dim, compared to Venus, but can be identified by it’s yellow-orange hue,” said Mrinal Kanti Pal Ray, assistant meteorologist, Positional Astronomy Centre.

The closeness between the planets to less than one degree is due to the differences between their speeds of rotations and revolutions, explained Pal Ray.

“It’s a coincidence that the positioning of the planets will be such that they can be seen neck-to-neck in the sky,” he said. But to observe the rings of Saturn, one will have to take the help of a telescope.

“On July1, we will have a high-powered Cassegran telescope ready,” said Jayanta Sthanapati, director, Birla Industrial and Technological Museum. “The viewing will be open to all.”