On Monday (December 21), Jupiter and Saturn were spotted together in the night sky for more than 800 years. To the naked eye, this “great connection” felt like a single, vast celestial object shining above the earth. But for the telescope – and a consumer camera equipped with a telescopic lens – the planets leaned around the sky and showed their individual faces in stunning detail.
UAE photographer Florian Krichbaummer has achieved one of the most sky-breaking spots on Earth: near the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa. In the vast parking area surrounding the skyscraper (which is 2,720 feet or 830 meters tall), Kritchbaumer filmed the connection for 45 minutes, capturing the moment that the two planets approached each other (from their position).
You can see the results in the video below, which captures the entire shooting in about 20 seconds.
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“There were a few clouds when I shot this, so I was anxious to see if I could catch it,” Krichebaumer said in an email to LiveScience. “Luckily, they opened at the right moment. Jupiter with Saturn’s rings and some of its moons appearing next to each other in your viewfinder is just as incredible a moment.”
“Everyone should go out and experience seeing the planets and the night sky once in their lives,” he added.
Stunning, it appears from Earth, Saturn and Jupiter were not particularly together during the coincidence, Previously live science report. Jupiter is currently about 550 million miles (890 million kilometers) or about 5.9 times the distance of the Earth from the Sun, while Saturn is about 1 billion miles (1.6 billion km) from the Earth or about 10.8 times the distance of the Earth from the Sun. Relative to each other, the planets were still 450 million miles (724 million km) away. They only seem closer to us because Jupiter’s orbit has brought them into the line between Earth and Saturn.
Published on Original Living Science.
