Rare ‘Christmas star’ to appear in December 2020 as planets line up

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On December 21, Saturn and Jupiter will align into a beautiful bright star. This will be the first time they have aligned themselves in this way since the Middle Ages.

According to Forbes, the two planets will look like a “double planet” and provide an extraordinary amount of light. The last time these two planets aligned like this was on March 4, 1226, according to Rice University astronomer Patrick Hartigan.

“Alignments between these two planets are rather rare, occurring once every 20 years or so, but this conjunction is exceptionally rare due to the closeness of the planets to each other. You will need to return before dawn on March 4, 1226, to see a closer alignment between these objects visible in the night sky, ”Hartigan said in a statement.

The spectacular sighting will be visible from anywhere on earth.

“The planets will appear low in the western sky for about an hour after sunset when viewed from the northern hemisphere, and although they are closest on December 21, you can watch every night of the week. Although the sight sinks towards the horizon, it will be bright enough to be seen at dusk. All you need is a clear view to the southwest and look southwest about 45 minutes after sunset where you are, ”says Forbes.

To catch it in the night sky, you will at least need a regular telescope. But for a brighter view, an astronomer’s telescope or college telescope power supply would work best.

Alignments like these, called “conjunctions” are not necessarily uncommon, but some of them are incredibly rare or only occur once every hundreds of years. Astronomers believe that the Star of David referred to in Matthew was an unusually rare triple conjunction between Saturn, Jupiter, and Venus. One of these astronomers was Johannes Kepler, one of the greatest astronomers of all time.

Photo courtesy: © GettyImages / Allanswart

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John Paluska has been a contributor to Christian Headlines since 2016 and is the founder of Daily forage, a medium he relaunched in 2019 in response to the constant spread of fake news.