796 years later, a rare reunion between Jupiter and Saturn, awaits us on December 21st. In astronomy, this phenomenon is called the ‘Great Conjunction’.
On December 21, the distance between them will be only one tenth of a degree. (One-fifth of the angular diameter of a full moon). It will take about 800 years to see Jupiter and Saturn so close. Moreover, not all meetings are necessarily visible. For example, in May 2000, Jupiter and Saturn were closer to the Sun. Both planets could not be seen in the light of the sun.
The two planets will appear on the southwest horizon after sunset in the evening of December 2020. The brightest Jupiter is closer to the horizon and Saturn is slightly higher above Jupiter. With a good pair of binoculars, you can see the two separately. If you get Galileo’s telescope, you’ll see some of Jupiter’s moons – Io, Callisto, Ganymede and Europa.
Since the orbits of Jupiter, Saturn, and Earth are not usually at the same level, they can be seen separately at a confluence. Although these gatherings recur every 20 years, Jupiter and Saturn rarely come so close. For example, at the meeting of 2040, the distance between Jupiter and Saturn will be approximately 2 1/4 the angular diameter of the full moon.
There are even rarer phenomena. For example – Jupiter Saturn half obscure (transit), or completely obscure (occultation). This will only happen three times in the next 10,000 years. February 16, 7541 (transit), June 17, 7541 (occultation), February 25, 8674 (transit).
Saturn orbits the Sun in about 29.5 years. While Saturn runs slowly like a marathon runner, Jupiter completes its orbit in about 11.5 years with the agility of a 400-meter runner on the inner track. In addition, the speed of Jupiter is 13.1 kilometers per second. Saturn’s is 9.7 km / s. So Jupiter runs every 20 years and “laps” Saturn. As you can see from the ground, the two of them came closer.
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