Posted on 12/19/2020 2:38:01 PM PST by MtnClimber
Explanation: How close will Jupiter and Saturn be at their Great Conjunction? Consider this beautiful triple conjunction of Moon, Jupiter and Saturn captured through clouds in the wintry twilight. The telephoto view looks toward the western horizon and the Alborz Mountains in Iran after sunset on December 17. The celestial gathering makes it easy to see Jupiter and fainter Saturn are separated on that date by roughly the diameter of the waxing crescent Moon. On the day of their Great Conjunction, solstice day December 21, Jupiter and Saturn may seem to nearly merge though. In their closest conjunction in 400 years they will be separated on the sky by only about 1/5 the apparent diameter of the Moon. By then the two largest worlds in the Solar System and their moons will be sharing the same field of view in telescopes around planet Earth.
For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then zoom by moving the magnifying glass over an area and then clicking. The side bars will move the zoomed area over the photograph.
Not to be confused with “Afternoon Delight.”
Jupiter orbital year - 11.86 Earth years
Saturn orbital year - 29.44 Earth years
Beautiful
How close to “completely across the solar system” are they?
Our moon is a small crescent but the 2 planets are complete disks now so they relatively on the other side of the sun from us.(?)
When the planets outside earth are on the opposite side of the sun they would be overhead during day time.
Post 8 shows it. If you were looking at the post 8 diagram from above the orbit plane. you would be looking down on Earth’s north pole and Earth would be spinning CCW and orbiting the Sun CCW. So you can see why now Jupiter and Saturn are visible now just after sunset. Soon they will be overhead in day time.
Just magnificent.
Thanks for posting. Purchased new telescope to see this but as usual, we get cloud cover in winter (Indiana)that last for months so pictures may be the only way I will see it.
They are overhead during the day NOW. Jupiter and Saturn currently rise and set a little over 2 hours after the sun, with that time getting shorter every day. They are currently on the far side of the sun from us, and on January 23 Saturn will reach Superior Conjunction, when it will pass behind the sun. Jupiter will follow on January 28th.
I just stepped outside and here in Phoenix it is a totally clear sky. Sure enough Saturn is like a tiny star shinning just above and a little to the left of the much brighter Jupiter . Only need your eyes to see it. My binocular view is too shaky to see Jupiter’s moons much less any of Saturn’s.
Sky rockets in flight...
It wasn't lucky for the Cowboys cuz they lost the game.
It looks like Pluto is in the line up but its way out there and hardly even shines anymore since getting demoted.
We’ve been getting mostly clouds at night here in Connecticut but on Friday night, got a nice glimpse of this. Hopefully it clears out tonight but we have heavy overcast right now with some light snow on the way for the afternoon.
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