[ad_1]
FP trend26 November 2020 9:04:18 IST
Jupiter and Saturn will get closer to each other in Earth’s night sky than they have in nearly 800 years around Christmas this year. According to a Rice University statement, just after sunset on the evening of December 21, Jupiter and Saturn will appear closer in the night sky giving people around the world a heavenly pleasure to play on the winter solstice. Rice University astronomer Patrick Hartigan said alignments between the two planets are extremely rare and occur once every two decades. But the upcoming conjunction is made rarer by the proximity of the two planets as expected.
According to him, one should go back in time before sunrise on March 4, 1226 to see a closer alignment between the two celestial bodies.
The statement adds that between December 16 and December 25, Jupiter and Saturn will be separated by less than the diameter of a full moon.
Jupiter and Saturn are expected to join the moon in a rare celestial event in the fourth week of December. Image credit: CDN
According to Hartigan, on the evening of the next approach, December 21, they will look like a double planet, separated only by 1/5 the diameter of the full moon. He added that for most telescope viewers, each planet and many of their larger moons will be visible in the same field of view that evening.
The Rice University statement he also adds that the best viewing conditions will be near the equator and the further north the view, the less time they will have to glimpse the rare event, before the planets sink below the horizon.
The phenomenon will likely occur again until March 15, 2080, and then it won’t appear until shortly after midnight.
.
[ad_2]
Source link
