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He Monday, December 21 It will be a historic day in astronomy because we will see an event that has not occurred in these conditions for centuries: the Great Planetary Conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn.
This conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn is extremely rare because, Although it occurs every two decades, the conditions in which it will occur this Monday did not coincide for 800 years.
This phenomenon has also been associated with “Belen star” described by the Bible.
On December 21, Jupiter and Saturn will be aligned in such a way that they appear to form a double planet. The highlight is that since 400 years ago the two had not been so close of the other, and about 800 years ago the meeting did not take place at night.
This means that it will be visible in almost everyone, about an hour after the sun sets, and it will be best seen closer to the equator, since it will last longer there.
“Closeness is a matter of perspective: in reality these two planets are separated by hundreds of millions of kilometers,” he explains. Juan Carlos Beamin, astronomer and scientific coordinator of the Center for Communication of the Sciences of Autonomous University of Chile, in a press release.
The expert notes that, although it will be visible to the naked eye, if you have a small telescope or a pair of binoculars, “you may also see the four largest moons of Jupiter and Titan, the largest satellite of Saturn.”
For his part, Arturo Gómez, Chilean astrophotographer, gives BioBioChile more instructions so that people can see the event: “Starting at 9:30 p.m. and looking towards the west, that is, towards the sea, both planets will be so together, that the use of binoculars is recommended to be able to ‘separate’ them angularly ”.
“Jupiter and Saturn will be within the constellation Capricorn and
the sun in Sagittarius, next to Mercury. As both will be so low towards the west, from 9:30 pm their observation is recommended ”, adds Gómez.
And he tells a curious fact: “In the past, during the time of the Birth of Jesus, there were a series of astronomical phenomena associated with the Star of Bethlehem. At that time, atmospheric transparency was optimal and the vision of astronomical phenomena at night was spectacular! “
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