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The sky and the Arab world are witnessing after sunset on Monday, December 21, 2020 and the beginning of the night, coinciding with the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere of the Earth, a rare conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn, as they will be at the closest apparent distance and only 0.1 degrees apart, which is the closest visible conjunction between the two planets in the night sky in 794 years.
The Jeddah Astronomical Society revealed in a report that the observer will see the two planets with the naked eye as if there is a merger between two “stars” – bright Jupiter (2.0 -) with faint Saturn (+0.7), into a star that is more bright and looks spreading north in an amazing sight that can be seen without the need for any special control equipment.
The conjunction occurs when the planets appear close to each other in the sky from our perspective on Earth, and this particular conjunction is described as the “great coupling” because it is one of the rarest cases of conjugation between the planets visible to the naked eye. and this phenomenon has no effect on Earth.
The report pointed out that the reason for the rare occurrence of the “Great Coupling” is due to the distance between Jupiter and Saturn as a result of their slow movement across the sky, as it takes 11 years and 29 years respectively to orbit the sun. In addition to that their orbits do not fall exactly to the same level and the planet generally passes over it. Or below the other in the sky, but it happens that the two planets meet and produce a great coupling at the rate of once every 20 years.
The planet Saturn cuts about 12 degrees each year from its orbit around the sun, while Jupiter cuts about 30 degrees, so in one year Jupiter closes the gap between it and Saturn by about 18 degrees, and higher by 20 years Jupiter completes 360 degrees compared to Saturn, so Jupiter meets Saturn and they share roughly the same celestial coordinates once every 20 years.
Also, you have to know that the great conjunctions are not the same. Sometimes a “great conjunction” occurs when the planets are so close to the sun that they cannot be observed, as happened in 1623 and also in 2000, and at other times the apparent distance between them cannot exceed five degrees. .
The “Grand Conjunction” can be observed anywhere on Earth by looking at the southwest horizon for a few hours after sunset, and due to the close distance between them, they can be seen together through binoculars and even within the field. view of the telescope. .
During the nights after the Night of the Great Conjunction, the apparent distance between Jupiter and Saturn will gradually increase, and it will not repeat in this way until 60 years later.
It is worth noting that day after day observing Jupiter and Saturn will become difficult, especially later this December compared to the last few months, as they approach the twilight of sunset in preparation for their transfer to the dawn sky in early 2021 and then they spend another whole year close to each other in the dome of the sky, but not at the same conjunction distance. Great December 2020.
