Jupiter and Saturn to form rare ‘double planet’ in the sky before Christmas



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From Country Living

  • Jupiter and Saturn will appear to align in December, creating a “double planet” in the night sky.

  • This is the first time since the Middle Ages that the planets have aligned so closely.

  • You can see this planetary conjunction at the winter solstice on December 21.

For the first time since the Middle Ages, Jupiter and Saturn will become so close to each other in the night sky that they will appear as a brilliantly brilliant “double planet”. On the winter solsticeOn December 21, the two largest planets in the solar system will visibly be on top of each other in the western sky.

If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, you can observe this planetary conjunction setting in the southwestern sky shortly after sunset. If you’ve been waiting to get your telescope out, this might be the perfect opportunity. Even if you have an amateur telescope with the right eyepiece, you may be able to see the Galilean moons, the jupiter bands, and The rings of Saturn, all in a spectacular view.

But don’t wait too long, because the planets will dive below the horizon only a few hours after sunset. You will no longer see a conjunction similar to this closure until March 15, 2080.

Photo credit: EarthSky.org
Photo credit: EarthSky.org

In that astronomers are calling a great conjunction, or the meeting of the two largest worlds in our solar system, the planets will appear perfectly aligned from the point of view of the Earth and will be only 0.1 degrees apart (this is only a fifth of the diameter of the moon). The last time Jupiter and Saturn appeared this close was in 1623, just 14 years after Galileo made his first telescope and discovered Jupiter’s moons.

The true alignment of the solar system of these two gas giants happened a few weeks ago, but from the perspective of Earth as it orbits rapidly the sun, Jupiter and Saturn will appear to be getting closer and closer over the next few weeks. If you pull out your telescope early, the planets are already close together and set later in the night, so you’ll have plenty of opportunities to track their progress.

Jupiter is five times the distance of Earth from the sun, at 484 million kilometers. Saturn is almost double. Because of their great distances, massive planets take centuries to make a single revolution around our sun.

Your birthday on Jupiter would be once every 12 years and once every 30 years on Saturn. At this rate, Jupiter aligns with Saturn every 20 years in the orbital plane of the solar system, creating a conjunction as seen from Earth. But these conjunctions don’t always appear as close as they do this year.

Photo credit: EarthSky.org
Photo credit: EarthSky.org

German astronomer Johannes Kepler suggested in 1614 that a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn occurring in 7 BC may be what the three wise men of the Nativity story called the Star of Bethlehem. If the famous “Christmas star” was a true astronomical event, such as a planetary conjunction or comet, Remains a mystery.

Jupiter and Saturn aren’t the only planets that align regularly. In 2015, Venus and Jupiter were a third of a degree apart.

Photo credit: ESO / Wikimedia Commons
Photo credit: ESO / Wikimedia Commons

The best time to catch the show on December 21 will be around an hour after sunset, right next to the constellation Capricorn. Get out early for the morning show.

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