[ad_1]
A star atop a Christmas tree during a partial solar eclipse in Bangkok on December 26, 2019.
AFP via Getty Images
Every December, planetariums and astronomers around the world pontificate on the origin of the “Christmas Star” or “Star of Bethlehem.”
As the story in the Gospel of Matthew says, a bright star rose after the birth of Jesus Christ that the Magi followed to find it.
Was it a comet? A supernova? Could it have been a conjunction of two planets? Or was it just a fictitious disposable detail that shouldn’t be taken so seriously?
Either way, this week there will be a “great conjunction. “That is the term used by astronomers to describe a situation in the Solar System when Jupiter and Saturn appear to intersect very closely (a conjunction is an apparent passage of two or more celestial bodies, while a grand conjunction refers only to to Jupiter and Saturn).
Jupiter and Saturn intertwine in a grand conjunction, as seen from Earth, every 19.85 Earth years. It is a natural symptom that it takes Jupiter 11.86 years to orbit the Sun and Saturn 29.4 years, which naturally means that they will sometimes appear to intersect in our night sky from our point of view (despite being many millions of miles apart). .
This week’s events occur seven weeks after the heliocentric conjunction of the two planets, when they aligned with each other and with the Sun in the Solar System.
Jupiter and Saturn have been known for thousands of years set every 20 years and even that the event occurs in the same part of the sky every 800 years or so.
Their next great conjunction will occur on December 21, 2020, on the December solstice date and just four days before Christmas Day, when they will appear to be only 0.1º from each other. That is about the width of a toothpick held at arm’s length according to Sky and telescope magazine.
It will be the closest great conjunction since July 16, 1623, and the first easily observable since March 4, 1226. Could it be the source of the “Star of Bethlehem” story?
Great conjunctions, and all conjunctions, and completely predictable events. Although they are not always as close as they will appear this week, that happens only every 300 years, calculations have been made on the previous great conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn around the same time as the suggested birth of Jesus Christ.
The Astronomers Monument at the Griffith Observatory, Griffith Park, Los Angeles, California, USA. Left … [+]
getty
One of the oldest theories dates back to Johannes Kepler, a key figure in the scientific revolution of the 17th century and the first to correctly explain the movement of the planets.
“Kepler thought that the star of Bethlehem was a triple conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn,” said Nigel Henbest, author of Philip’s 2021 Stargazing Month-by-Month Guide to the Night Sky in Great Britain and Ireland. “Here we are two millennia later and a similar conjunction is about to happen within four days of Christmas day … maybe a new Messiah is about to be born!”
The trio of (L to R) Saturn, Mars and Jupiter together at dawn twilight, taken in Alberta … [+]
VW Pics / Universal Images Group via Getty Images
According to Kepler’s calculations made in 1603 (during one year he observed a great conjunction), a triple conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn occurred in 7 BC. C. Why “triple”? When Jupiter passes Saturn in the Solar System, the two planets align with the Sun for a moment, but from the point of view of our faster-moving planet, the planets actually seem to recede for a few weeks. It is purely about perspective, but this retrograde movement can cause two or, in the case of 7 BC, three conjunctions in the same year. The last triple grand conjunction It happened in 1980 and the next one is in 2239.
Did Jupiter and Saturn get confused with a single star? Perhaps the great conjunctions were considered omens, like comets. Either way, this week’s closest approximation to Jupiter and Saturn in the telescopic age is a historical event to be aware of. Throughout this week and into the next, but particularly on the night of December 21, 2020, look up at the southwestern skies 45 minutes after sunset where you are and you will see two distant worlds become one.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
