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On the night of Monday, December 21, just after sunset, you can see the spectacular conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. The meeting of the two planets, which coincides with the summer solstice in the southern hemisphere and the beginning of winter in the northern hemisphere, does not occur since July 16, 1623 and will only be seen again on March 15, 2080 , according to calculations. of the Federation of Astronomical Associations of Spain.
According to the federation, amateur astronomers and ordinary citizens will be able to enjoy the meeting without any special equipment. Just look at the southwestern sky as soon as it gets dark. With the naked eye, says the website created to share scientific information about the conjunction, the planets will be visible at about 30 degrees in height and very close to where the sun sets: two points of light glued together, almost one on top of the other. . : Jupiter, the brightest, will be below, and Saturn, above. Color will also help distinguish them: Jupiter is pale yellow, and Saturn is orange.
With binoculars or a simple telescope it will be possible to see the two planets clearly and, in addition, you will be able to see the rings of Saturn, the bands of Jupiter and the main moons of the two stars, all in the same visual field. “The apparent distance between Jupiter and Saturn will be as small as 1/10 of a degree, almost a fifth of the width of the full moon that we see in our sky,” the astronomers explain.
Miguel Ángel López Valverde, from the Andalusian Institute of Astrophysics (southern Spain), says that the two planets “will appear so close together that they can be covered with the tip of a pen held with the arm extended.” However, the two planets will actually be hundreds of millions of kilometers apart, roughly five times the distance from Earth to the Sun.
After months slowly approaching, the great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn will be unmistakable because in this area of the sky and at this time of year there are no stars with a similar brightness. It takes the Earth a year to go around the Sun, Jupiter 12 years and Saturn 30. That is why it is difficult for the encounter to occur regularly. The planets will appear to be so close because they will be aligned with Earth on their paths around the Sun, as seen in the diagram.
Juan Diego Soler, an astrophysicist at the Max Planck Institute in Germany, tells by phone that the conjunction that will be seen today is very unique. “There are two planets that have a very slow translation period, they take a long time to go around the Sun. That is why this encounter is rare,” says Soler. And he adds: “In general, this conjunction occurs every 20 years, but they have never been seen as close as this December 21”.
The astrophysicist claims that a conjunction occurs when two planets appear to be “very close” in the sky. “The most famous conjunction, the one that is repeated the most, is the eclipse of the Moon with the Sun.” According to the researcher, for astronomy, conjunctions are like the cosmic clock. “The fact that we see the same conjunctions in each given time interval confirms that there are basic principles in the universe.”
Scientists insist that, in addition to seeing the two planets so close, what is interesting about this encounter is that with a telescope it is possible to observe some of the moons that will be the target of space missions in the coming years. “Jupiter’s moon Europa is expected to be explored in the near future, because it is believed that there may be living conditions in seas of water below the surface,” says Soler.
According to López Valverde, something very similar happens in Enceladus, one of Saturn’s satellites that can also be seen with a telescope. “This moon has a warm interior, with liquid water under an icy crust. In the coming years, the Juice space mission, of the European Space Agency, and the North American Europe Clipper, whose launches are scheduled for 2022-2024, will explore these frozen worlds investigating their potential for the development of life under their surface ”.
López insists that observing this phenomenon will be an opportunity to encourage young people to learn astronomy and have fun with it. “The planetary conjunction is a good excuse to encourage the observation of the night sky and the beautiful natural spectacles that it offers us,” he says. This approach will be visible to virtually everyone. You just need to have a good horizon, totally clean. Finding a place without clouds, without mountains and without buildings will be essential to see this conjunction.
