ON WINTER SOLSTICE THIS YEAR, GET READY FOR THE JUPITER-SATURN RENDEZVOUS

Sat 19 December 2020:

December 2020 is a month loaded with celestial spectacles. In the last few weeks, we have witnessed the Geminids meteor shower and a total Solar Eclipse. Now get ready for the ‘Great Conjunction’ when the two giants of our Solar System – Jupiter and the Saturn – come very close to each other and may nearly look like ‘one star’.

According to NASA, “the two planets will appear just a tenth of a degree apart” and such an event will not happen again in the next 60 years, that is, until 2080. Such a showstopping celestial show is set to take place after nearly 400 years “since the planets passed this close to each other in the sky, and nearly 800 years since the alignment of Saturn and Jupiter occurred at night,” says the NASA.

Not only that, the world will witness the ‘Great Conjunction’ of Jupiter and Saturn on Winter Solstice. This year the Winter Solstice is on December 21.

The ‘Great Conjunction’ of Jupiter and Saturn will be the closest since 1623, which is 13 years after Galileo built his first telescope and discovered four new ‘stars’ orbiting the Jupiter. The father of modern science observed and described the moons of Jupiter, the rings of Saturn and Sun spots among other discoveries.

The Winter Solstice that marks the shortest day of the year for us in the Northern Hemisphere and longest day in the Southern Hemisphere is indeed very special this year. Here is the date and time of the December Solstice.