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Jupiter and Saturn, the two largest planets in our solar system, will align today in an event known as the Great Conjunction.
While the planets intersect in their respective orbits around the Sun every 20 Earth years, they will not have been this close in the sky since 1623.
They have been visible together in the night sky for most of this year, but Monday night will be their closest point seen from Earth, less than the diameter of the full moon.
“You can imagine the solar system as a race track, with each of the planets as a corridor in its own lane and the Earth toward the center of the stadium,” said Henry Throop, an astronomer with the Division of Planetary Sciences at HQ NASA in Washington.
“From our point of view, we will be able to see Jupiter in the inner lane, closing in on Saturn all month and finally overtaking it on December 21.”
Stargazers will be able to observe the gas giants through a pair of binoculars, according to Professor Matthew Bate, director of astrophysics at the University of Exeter in the UK.
“If you have binoculars with a magnification of more than about eight times, then you should be able to see some of the Galilean moons,” he said.
The best time to view the event in the UK will be between 30 minutes and two hours after sunset, according to the University of Exeter website.
