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The Great Conjunction of 2020 will light up the darkest day of the year as the two giant planets of our solar system get closer together in the night sky than they have been in centuries.
By chance, the day Jupiter and Saturn will appear closest to Earth stargazers is December 21, the winter solstice, which is the longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.
The double planet view is also known to some astronomers as the “Christmas Star” due to the belief that the Biblical story of the Star of Bethlehem could have been a planetary conjunction. Although about two thousand years ago, Venus and Jupiter were the closest, not Jupiter and Saturn, as is the case with the “Christmas Star” of 2020.
The last time the two planets were this close was in 1623, but stargazing conditions at that time meant that the astronomical event was probably not seen by terrestrials. The last time such a close pairing could be seen with the naked eye was in 1226, according to EarthSky.
On the nights of December 15-18, stargazers can easily find Jupiter and Saturn moving together by looking up at the crescent crescent moon in the western sky 45 minutes after sunset, according to the Night Sky Network. from NASA.
“Note that while the two gas giants can Appear nearby, they are actually hundreds of millions of miles apart, “writes NASA.” This will still be quite an amazing sight, but you will have to look fast as both planets will set shortly after sunset. “
On the night of the solstice, December 21, the moon will be higher in the sky, but Jupiter and Saturn will stay closer to the horizon in the western sky and appear as one large star. However, from an amateur telescope, a stargazer could clearly see both planets and some of their moons within a viewing frame.
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