(Newser)
– This year’s winter solstice comes with a nice bonus for sky watchers: Jupiter and Saturn will be so close that they will look like a double planet on December 21, Fox Science reports. In fact, the Earth’s age has not had a chance to show a glimpse of a pair very close to the Middle Ages. Rice University astronomer Patrick Hartigan said in a statement that “you have to go all the way, at 4 o’clock at night, before the early dawn of 1226, to see the close alignment between these objects visible in the night sky.” In particular, the planets will be separated by one-fifth the diameter of the full moon. From an astronomical point of view, this meeting of the planetary giants is known as the “great connection” between the earth and the sky.
When Jupiter and Saturn come into alignment with each other every 20 or more years, it is close to their 2020 encounter which is very unusual. The next thing that will happen will be in 2080, says Hartigan. For those interested in a glimpse of the event, in the western sky, about an hour after sunset is an excellent time. “For most telescope viewers, each planet and its many large moons will appear in the same field of view that evening,” he says. Earth and Sky note that there is no need to wait until the solstice to investigate the planets, as it is relatively close to the end of the year. (Jupiter’s moon shone in the dark.)
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