ORLANDO, Fla. – The rare Great Conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn took center stage Monday night.
The last time the two planets have been visibly this close in our night sky was about 800 years ago.
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Since it is near Christmas, it’s being dubbed the “Christmas Star” by some. The two gas giants will be separated by only .1 degree. To the naked eye, it will likely appear as two distinguishable separate points, rather than one “star,” but it does depend on one’s eyesight and atmospheric conditions.
The “Christmas Star” appeared 30 minutes after sunset on Monday.
You did not need a telescope or binoculars to see it.
The two planets showed up in the same field of view through a telescope.
Also in that field of view will reside the biggest moons of the two bodies. A telescope or binoculars will be needed to see the moons.
The Great Conjunction happens every 20 years when Jupiter and Saturn get very close to each other from our perspective. Not every Great Conjunction, however, is created equal and that’s what makes the one occurring on the winter solstice so rare and special.
“Each Great Conjunction has different angular separations, or the distances between the two planets can vary by a bit depending on how everything is lined up,” said Seth Mayo, curator of astronomy at the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Daytona Beach.
The last time the two planets were this close to each other from Earth’s point of view was in 1623.
“The problem for this Great Conjunction is that it occurred very near sunset, so the sun’s glare most likely obscured the pair of planets,” Mayo said. “The last observable time these planets were this close was the year 1226.”
Beyond Monday, Jupiter and Saturn will begin to move away from each other. This trend will continue for the next ten years before the two giants start to move closer together again during the 2030s. This will set up the next Great Conjunction in 2040, although that one will not be as brilliant as 2020s.
The planets won’t be this close again until 2080. In an extremely rare fashion, Jupiter completely covers Saturn. That won’t happen again until 7541.
The Great Conjunction occurs because Jupiter has the inside track while orbiting the sun in our solar system. Since Jupiter’s orbit is smaller than Saturn’s, Jupiter moves around the sun faster and catches up to the Ringed Planet. Think of it as a NASCAR race with the infield being the sun. The car that has the inside lane gets around the infield faster than a car on the outside.
“On very rare occasions, these great conjunctions between Jupiter and Saturn can occur multiple times in a year, known as triple conjunctions, due to Earth overtaking these planets with its much faster orbit,” Mayo said. “That won’t happen again until the 2238-2239 time frame, so we have some waiting to do.”
The last time there was a triple conjunction was 1981.