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The ‘Great’ Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn by Tracy Roberts

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Skywatchers are in for an end-of-year treat. What has become known as the “Christmas Star” is a planetary conjunction easily visible in the evening sky over the next two weeks as the bright planets Jupiter and Saturn come together on the night of December 21st.

In 1610, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei pointed his telescope to the night sky, discovering the four moons of Jupiter. In that same year, Galileo also discovered a strange oval surrounding Saturn, which later was discovered to be its rings. These discoveries changed how people understood the far reaches of our solar system.

Thirteen years later, in 1623, the solar system’s two giant planets, Jupiter and Saturn, traveled together across the sky. Jupiter caught up to and passed Saturn, in an astronomical event known as a “Great Conjunction.”  

The planets regularly appear to pass each other in the solar system, with the positions of Jupiter and Saturn being aligned in the sky about once every 20 years.

What makes this year’s  so rare It’s been nearly 400 years since the planets passed this close to each other in the sky, and nearly 800 years since the alignment of Saturn and Jupiter occurred at night, as it will for 2020, allowing nearly everyone around the world to witness this “great conjunction