The wait is almost over. One of the most awaited night for stargazers is finally here. Tonight (Dec 21st) ,two of the giant planets of our solar system -Jupiter & Saturn- will appear closer to one another in an event known as Great Conjunction. Well,why is this so special? Because this is the first such visible occurrence in almost 800 years.Tonight,these planets will appear as only 0.1 degree (6 arc minutes) apart. Although these giants came closer like this in the year 1623 ,it wasn’t visible enough. The last time a person could clearly see this event was on 4th March of 1226.
In astronomy, the word conjunction is used to describe the event in which two astronomical objects (such as asteroids, moons, planets, and stars) appear to be close together in the sky, as observed from Earth.The term “great conjunction” is used when these two objects are Jupiter and Saturn. The great conjunction occurs once every 20 years. Usually, Jupiter and Saturn would appear as one degree apart (or twice the apparent diameter of the moon) during the great conjunction. But this year’s is rare. Even though they are actually separated by more than 730 million kilometers, they will appear as just 0.1 degree apart. So these giants will look like a single bright star , also referred to as the Christmas Star of 2020.
How can you observe this from India ?
The Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn is likely to be visible in the southwestern sky from 6:30pm to 7:30pm in India. You can view the conjunction with the naked eye. But a pair of binoculars or a telescope would help you to see the four orbiting moons of Jupiter too. The Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium in Bengaluru and Delhi have made arrangements to watch the ‘great conjunction’ today between 6.30-7.30 pm. Don’t worry if you are clouded out or the light pollution is killing the view. You can watch it online too.There will be a live stream on Nehru Planetarium Youtube channel from 6:30pm to 7:30pm . Also, the Virtual Telescope Project in Rome will be showing the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction tonight starting at 16 UTC ( 9:30 pm IST ).
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