The Great Conjunction Can Be Seen Tonight!
The Great Conjunction of our system’s two biggest planets promises to be a truly extraordinary sight.
Saturn and Jupiter will appear to come within touching distance of one another on the winter solstice, Monday, December 21st—a sight that has not occurred for nearly 800 years.
Jupiter and Saturn will appear (weather-permitting) on the winter solstice to be so close from Earth that they may look like one shining star, even though they’ll actually be 450 million miles apart. For most telescope viewers, each planet and several of their largest moons will be visible in the same field of view that evening.
The so-called “Great Conjunction” last happened in 1623 (when Galileo Galilei was still alive) but could not be seen from Earth. Before that, the phenomenon previously occurred on March 4th, 1226.
If this isn’t reason enough to be excited, the planets will even appear to merge into one bright light resembling the Biblical Christmas Star. 2020’s celestial event has been christened by some as the “Christmas Star,” due to its proximity to Christmas Day.
The celestial phenomenon will be visible from anywhere on Earth, but conditions will be best near the equator. People should look for them low in the south-west in the hour after sunset.
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