Set a calendar reminder for this coming weekend when an essentially full moon joins Jupiter and Saturn in the southern sky.
When full, the moon rises at sunset and spends the entire night in the sky, so the grouping will be visible during all the hours of darkness. The chart shows the view looking due south from London at midnight on 2 August, which is as Saturday becomes Sunday.
At this moment, the moon will be 96.7% illuminated. Observers all around the world will be able to see the grouping. From Sydney in the southern hemisphere, Jupiter, Saturn and the moon will be high in the sky.
As you look at the grouping, you are essentially seeing the closest celestial object to the Earth (the moon) and the further that can be easily seen with the naked eye (Saturn). Uranus can just be seen with the unaided eye under excellent viewing conditions.
On Saturday night/Sunday morning, Saturn will be more than 3.5 thousand times further from Earth than the moon.
