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It is noteworthy that this year the winter solstice will coincide for the first time with such a terribly rare “marriage” of the planetary giants.
On Monday, December 21 at noon at 12:02 Greek time, the Sun will be on the winter solstice, so this year’s winter in Greece and the northern hemisphere in general will start normally.
It is noteworthy that this year the winter solstice will coincide for the first time with a terribly rare “marriage” of the planetary giants Jupiter and Saturn in Earth’s sky, and with the culmination of the last rain of the year, the Arctic.
The night of the solstice, the first of winter, as well as the next ones, will be the longest of the year in duration. In contrast, summer will begin in the southern hemisphere, with the day at its peak.
As the Sun passes the winter solstice, it begins to rise higher and higher in the sky again, with the result that the day regains its lost “ground”, until at the spring equinox light and darkness once again have a almost equal duration.
The winter solstice does not always “fall” on the same date, but instead oscillates between December 20 and 23, with the most likely dates being 21 and 22. These calendar fluctuations are due to the Gregorian calendar.
The winter solstice no longer occurs on December 25, as in the time of Christ, but a little earlier, because the oldest Julian Calendar, introduced by Julius Caesar in 44 BC. C., has been replaced. and that he had set the winter solstice on December 25, but missed one day every 128 years. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII introduced a new calendar, named after him (Gregorian), which loses only one day in its 4,000 years.
The Sun was worshiped by the ancients as a god and almost all ancient peoples established various festivals in his honor, from the Scandinavians and Iranians to the Mayans and Incas. Almost everywhere, the most important celebrations took place during the winter solstice, which was considered the celebration of the birth of the Sun, which also marked the beginning of the new year. Prehistoric monuments like Stonehenge in Britain are believed to have been associated with recording the movements of the Sun in the sky.
For the Romans, the celebration of the “invincible Sun” on December 25 was fundamental, when it was celebrated that the Sun began to rise in the sky again and thus the days grew. The first Christians of Rome, who secretly went to its catacombs, decided to celebrate the birth of Christ on the same date, December 25, when the Romans celebrated their own festivals of Saturnalia.
Rare heavenly “marriage”
On December 21, the day of the winter solstice, the large planets Jupiter and Saturn will get so close that they will almost appear to touch and “kiss”, resembling a double planet, according to NASA.
This spectacular astronomical phenomenon, also called the “Great Coupling,” is the first time it has occurred in Earth’s night sky in centuries. In fact, Saturn will be at least 730 million kilometers behind Jupiter, which will be 890 million kilometers from Earth.
According to Sky & Telescope, Saturn will be seen with binoculars or with naked eyes to the right of the brightest Jupiter, while four large satellites of Jupiter and at least one of Saturn, a total of seven celestial bodies, will also be visible with a telescope. amateur. southwest direction.
The approaches of the two planets, as seen from our planet, are relatively rare, since they occur approximately every 20 years. But this year’s coupling is special, because Jupiter and Saturn will appear to be very close. By one estimate, the last time people could see something similar was in 1623, when Galileo was still alive, and the last time was in 1226 in the middle of the Middle Ages.
The rare “dating” magazines of the two large gaseous planets are due to their orbits not matching. Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, takes almost 12 Earth years to complete a complete orbit around the Sun, while Saturn takes almost 30. In addition, the two giants move in orbits with different inclinations around our parent star, which it also makes matching them more difficult.
The two planets are closing in on each other in Earth’s sky as early as this summer and on December 21 they will apparently be separated by only a fifth of the Moon’s diameter. For about five days before and after December 21, the two planets will appear to be at a maximum distance from each other up to the diameter of the Moon. Those who prefer to wait will see the close pair of Jupiter and Saturn again in March 2080, while this will not happen again until 2400.
And Arctic “rain”
At the same time, on the night of December 21, the Arctic’s relatively light shower of rising stars will peak, the last “shooting stars” of the year. The Arctic, which occurs between December 17 and 25 and produces five to ten meteors per hour, comes from the dust left by Comet Tuttle, first discovered in 1790.
The conquerors seem to come from the direction of the constellation Ursa Minor, hence their name. The sky will be dark enough to observe, as the next full moon will occur on December 30.
Source: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ
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