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Stargazers’ attempts to observe a once-in-a-lifetime sight were hampered in the UK by a much more everyday occurrence: bad weather.
Many who expected to see the “grand conjunction” of Jupiter and Saturn on Monday night, where the two planets appeared closer together in the night sky than they had for nearly 400 years, were disappointed when their view was obscured by clouds.
The alignment of the two bodies was supposed to mean that they appeared as a bright star shortly after sunset. The astronomers said the two should be close enough to each other for the next few nights to enjoy the show, even though 6.37pm GMT on Monday was the point where they were closest.
A small crowd gathered in a single large block of sarsen stone standing outside the entrance to the Stonehenge embankment in Wiltshire to observe the phenomenon and mark the shortest day of the year, despite English Heritage canceling the winter solstice celebrations this year due to the pandemic.
The conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn take place every 20 years, but many are impossible to see with the naked eye because they occur during the day, or are less impressive because the planets do not get as close. This time, the planets were only one-tenth of a degree from Earth’s perspective, or about one-fifth the width of a full moon. It is also the first time in 800 years that it occurs so close to Christmas.
Wilf Somogyi, who is in UCL’s astrophysics group, expected to see the setup on Monday, but said it was too cloudy from Cambridge. “I can’t see anything at all, which is a bit embarrassing, but I guess there will be another one in 60 years,” he said.
“I took a look at the cloud cover map and it seems that tonight everything is covered by a cloud. It was seen last night and the planets will still be together for the next few nights. Some people may have seen it last night. There are other opportunities. They get closer and closer and then separate. “
Somogyi added: “It is a rare appearance. The last one was about 400 years ago, but it was not visible to everyone, only in the places closest to the equator. “
David weintraub, a professor of astronomy at Vanderbilt University, said: “I think one thing that is a little misleading to people is, well, there has been so much interest in tonight as it is when they are officially in conjunction, so close. But to the naked eye, without a telescope, they won’t be further apart when you see them tomorrow. So if it’s cloudy or the weather is bad, you can go out another night and it won’t look any different. “
He said he saw the setup on Sunday and it appeared as two dots in the sky. “Jupiter orbits the sun in 12 years and Saturn in 60 years, so Jupiter orbits Saturn … a conjunction like this occurs every 20 years, but some of those conjunctions occur when Jupiter and Saturn are further apart, for which does not look like a double star.
“It is a once in a lifetime event, but they are not fireworks, they are just two things that look like stars in the sky.”
