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In a few days it will be that moment again. The two giant planets get so close in their orbits around the sun that they appear to merge. This is reminiscent of a historical event more than two thousand years ago.
On December 21 Jupiter and Saturn can hardly be distinguished from each other
Every twenty years the two largest planets in our solar system collide. On December 21, the day of the winter solstice, the moment has returned. If you look southwest around 5:30 p.m., you’ll see Jupiter just a fifth of the lunar width below Saturn. The two planets have not been that close for nearly 400 years. Without binoculars or a telescope, you can hardly tell the difference between the two giant planets. Therefore, one might think that a “new star” has formed in the sky. In fact, there were and are astronomers who associate such a planetary conjunction with the legendary star of Bethlehem.
