Jupiter and Saturn to appear closest in night sky in hundreds of years
Keep a close look at the sky in December and you may see a very rare event.
Keep a close look at the night sky in December and you may see a rare occurrence between the two biggest planets in our solar system.
From now until Dec. 21, Jupiter and Saturn will continue to get closer until they are just 0.1 degrees apart and form a “double planet,” according to NASA. And there’s a chance you’ll be able to see it for yourself.
The space agency describes the rarity of the 2020 event in-depth in its December Skywatching page. The rare event is officially called a “great conjunction.”
“These occur every 20 years this century as the orbits of Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn periodically align making these two outer planets appear close together in our nighttime sky,” NASA writes.
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