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The two massive gas giant planets of the solar system pair up at dusk on December 21S t, with a rare conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn.
A once-in-a-lifetime sight is about to grace the evening sky around the world, closing 2020 with one of the best astronomical events of the year.
Conjunction union
Dozens of planetary conjunctions adorn our skies each year, as two planets appear to pair up as seen from our terrestrial point of view. Many are fast-paced affairs, as fast-moving inner worlds like Mercury and Venus lick the sky, visiting the Moon, planets, and stars along the ecliptic.
What is more unusual is spying on a pairing of the two The slowest outer planets moving with the naked eye, Jupiter and Saturn. That is exactly what will happen next Monday, when Jupiter meets Saturn on the solstice of December 21. The two worlds will appear to be separated by only 6.1 arc minutes (‘) at ~ 18:00 universal time (UT) (1:00 pm EST), 30 degrees east of the sun.
Although the two largest planets in the solar system overlap once per generation (approximately once every 20 years), this conjunction is especially close: in fact, it will not be crowned until March 15, 2080 (6.1 ‘). You have to go all the way back to July 16, 1623 to find a closer one (5.2 ‘away), although that particular conjunction was much lower in the sky and much harder to detect, just 13 degrees from the Sun. The last readily visible pairing of Jupiter and Saturn topping this year was the morning of March 5.th, 1226 AD
Jupiter and Saturn over Elliott Bay from Queen Anne Hill, Seattle @KSeattleWeather @ScottSKOMO @NWSSeattle @Astroguyz pic.twitter.com/V2Cd3hNjqF
– Colombia (@ whitesky60) December 13, 2020
Although the timing of their closest approach favors longitudes centered in Europe and Africa, you can see the two approaching night by night around the world this week, entering this weekend. In fact, Jupiter and Saturn will stay less than an angular degree apart (close enough to hide behind your pinky with outstretched arm) until December 30.th, and closer to 30 ‘(the angular diameter of a full moon) since December 17th at 25th.
The two planets will almost seem to touch on the night of the 21S tAlthough in reality, the two gas giants are separated by 883 million kilometers (548.7 million miles). Jupiter shines with a magnitude of -2, while Saturn is only seven times fainter, with a magnitude of +0.6. The crescent moon, thin as a razor, fails to hide the couple by three degrees on the night of Wednesday, December 16. (Photoshoot!)
Make sure to increase the magnification, as you will have the rare opportunity to place both gas giants of the solar system in the same field of view. You’re looking at more than 90% of the planetary mass of the entire Solar System, right in one convenient view. Jupiter is 33 arcseconds (“) wide on the night of the conjunction, while Saturn is 36” (ringed) from end to end. Be sure to check out the respective entourage of moons for each one as they glide past each other in the sky.
Views from space
Looking back from Saturn’s local neighborhood, you would see Jupiter glide just 7 ‘past Earth, with both just three degrees from the Sun.
The seventeenth astronomer Johannes Kepler attached great importance to the conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn. Kepler was the last great astronomer who also subscribed in part to the archaic practice of astrology, carefully examining what he termed the ‘great conjunctions’, or repeating patterns of conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn returning to the same astrological house every 60 years. years.
These ‘trines’ or triads of great conjunctions exerted a great influence on Kepler’s thinking, leading him to suggest that the Star of Bethlehem was related to a close pairing of Jupiter and Saturn in 7 BC. C. in Pisces the Fish, a sign long associated with Judaism.
The conjunction of this year occurs on the border of the modern astronomical constellations of Sagittarius and Capricorn. With the conjunction falling just a few days before Christmas, look forward to the annual discussion about “what was the star of Bethlehem?” to come to light once again … although the biblical and historical references to the actual event are so rare, we will probably never know for sure.
Looking into the distant future
Can Jupiter Ever Hide Saturn? Well, we looked at 20,000 years of conjunctions (it’s what we do for fun) and found 58 close conjunctions (less than 10 ‘apart) of Jupiter and Saturn over 200 centuries, with only 11 in the 2000-year period from 1000 AD to 3000 AD … but only 5 that are closer than the conjunction in 2020.
An especially intriguing event ‘may’ occur on (mark your calendars) June 21, AD 7541, when Jupiter can actually hide (pass in front of) Saturn. This will certainly put on a strange sight, as the two’s moons intertwine and Jupiter dons the rings of Saturn! We say ‘may’ because the precise position of the planets over extremely long periods of time is subject to small gravitational disturbances to each other, and those miniscule effects add up to a small amount of uncertainty when we look at tens of thousands of years.
To be sure, there is not much in terms of scientific value behind the conjunction next Monday night, but the show offers a wonderful opportunity to show the two worlds in the eyepiece, while gazing at the universe of a watch and how it gives us views so rare. through time and space.
Main Image: Closing in: Jupiter vs. Saturn from December 8, 2020. Image Credit & Copyright: Tom Wildoner / Dark Side Observatory. Used with permission.
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