Jupiter and Saturn Embrace in Solstice Conjunction

[ilan]

Jupiter and Saturn Embrace in Solstice Conjunction
Bob King, Sky & Telescope | 14 December 2020

Jupiter and Saturn fashion the Great Conjunction of 2020 when they pair up on December 21st, the winter solstice. That evening they’ll be closest in nearly 400 years.

While we're all trying our best to keep our distance from one another during the current pandemic, Jupiter and Saturn are defiantly doing exactly the opposite. Since September they've been drawing closer and closer as they inch toward their Great Conjunction on Monday, December 21st. That night the gas giants will shine shoulder to shoulder just 0.1° apart (1/5th the apparent diameter of the full Moon) in their closest conjunction since July 1623.

Every 20 years, Jupiter, the closer and faster planet, laps slower Saturn and the two pair up briefly in a Great Conjunction. The last occurred on May 31, 2000, when they stood 1.2° apart low in the solar glare at dawn.

Conjunctions between planets occur because they all lie in approximately the same plane, like runners on concentric tracks. As we look across the plane of the solar system, defined by Earth's orbit, one or more can appear along the same line of sight, similar to seeing an airplane momentarily pass near the Moon.
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Although Crazed posted a piece on this the other day, I thought I'd repeat the topic, since the conjunction is fast upon us. No special equipment is needed and the actors are pretty easy to spot. This is the closest they've come since 1623 and the closest viewable since 1226, so this is truly a special moment.