Though 2020 has been ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic, December 21 will mark a historic spectacle for astronomy fans. On that night, Jupiter and Saturn are going to be in conjunction with each other, almost forming a “double planet”. This will be the closest the two planets will be for another four centuries.
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“This will be the second-most close conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn since the invention of the telescope in 1609 by Galileo Galilei. The two planets have not been viewed this close to each other since 16 July, 1623,” said Director at M P Birla Institute of Fundamental Research, Debiprosad Duari.
Before 1623, the closest observed Jupiter-Saturn conjunction was recorded during the middle-ages, sometime during 1226.
Though Jupiter and Saturn are aligned every 19 years and 7 months, the distance between the two planets greatly differs. Experts say that the two haven’t appeared this close in 397 years.
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Though Jupiter and Saturn will appear visually close to each other from Earth, they are around 735 million kilometres away from each other. The phenomenon of the two planets overlapping in this fashion is called the “Great Conjunction”.
The next time such an event will occur will be March 15, 2080, though they won’t be as close as this year. This event can be witnessed this year from many major cities in India including Kolkata where the conjunction will be visible on the south-western horizon between 5:25 PM and 7:12 PM.
This event is being hailed as the “Christmas Star” across the globe given the event’s proximity to Christmas. Experts said that the best place to view this phenomenon will be near the equator.
Two days later, i.e. on December 23, the northern hemisphere will witness winter solstice which is the longest night of the year.
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