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This “grand conjunction,” as astronomers know it, happened fortuitously at the winter solstice for those in the Northern Hemisphere and early summer in the global South.
The two planets were, in fact, separated by more than 730 million kilometers (400 million miles). But due to their alignment relative to Earth, they appeared to be closer to each other than at any other time in nearly 400 years.
The optimal “conjunction” took place at 1822 GMT.
The best viewing conditions on Monday were in clear skies and near the equator, while people in Western Europe and a vast swath of Africa had to direct their eyes to the southwest.
But hundreds of space fans also gathered in Kolkata to watch, through a telescope at a technology museum in the city, or from the surrounding rooftops and open areas.
And in Kuwait, astrophotographers traveled to the desert west of Kuwait City to capture the once-in-a-lifetime event.
Looking through a telescope or even a good pair of binoculars, the two gas giants were separated by no more than a fifth of the diameter of a full moon.
But with the naked eye, they would merge into a “highly luminous” double planet, said Florent Deleflie of the Paris Observatory.
“The Great Conjunction refers to the period when two planets have relatively similar positions relative to Earth,” Deleflie said.
“With a small instrument, even a small pair of binoculars, people can see the equatorial bands of Jupiter and its main satellites and the rings of Saturn.”
The last time Jupiter and Saturn got this close was in 1623, but weather conditions in regions where the meeting could be seen blocked the view.
Visibility was apparently better earlier than during the Middle Ages, on March 4, 1226 to be precise.
Jupiter, which is the largest planet, takes 12 years to orbit the sun, while Saturn takes 29 years.
About every 20 years, it appears to observers on Earth that they get closer to each other.
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