Great Conjunction


 

 

A great conjunction is a conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn, when the two planets appear closest together in the sky. Great conjunctions occur approximately every 20 years when Jupiter "overtakes" Saturn in its orbit. They are named "great" for being by far the rarest of the conjunctions between naked-eye planets (i.e. excluding Uranus and Neptune).[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_conjunction 

The spacing between the planets varies from conjunction to conjunction with most events being 0.5 to 1.3 degrees (30 to 78 arcminutes, or 1 to 2.5 times the width of a full moon). Very close conjunctions happen much less frequently (though the maximum of 1.3° is still close by inner planet standards): separations of less than 10 arcminutes have only happened four times since 1200, most recently in 2020.[2]

https://www.planetary.org/articles/jupiter-and-saturn-great-conjunction-viewing-guide 

Heads-up: Jupiter and Saturn are putting on a once-in-a-lifetime show this December.

The two planets were closer on 21 December than they had been in almost 400 years. With the unaided eye, they almost appeared to touch, separated by less than one-fourth the width of the Moon. They weren’t actually close, of course—Saturn was 733 million kilometers (456 million miles) behind Jupiter. Though the two worlds are now drifting apart each night, they're still putting on a spectacular show that will last through the end of the year.

Time Lapse https://player.vimeo.com/video/491383534?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0 

The exact time of the conjunction was at 1246 on the West Coast, so we missed the perfect alignment.

1730 was prime viewing time here; close enuf for gov work.


 

 

Note Galilean Moons lined up along the ecliptic as we view edge on.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Abell 2142 - most massive object in the Universe?

Image
Abell 2142, or A2142 , is a huge, X-ray luminous galaxy cluster in the constellation Corona Borealis . It is the result of a still ongoing merger between two galaxy clusters. The combined cluster is six million light years across, contains hundreds of galaxies and enough gas to make a thousand more. It is "one of the most massive objects in the universe." [1]   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abell_2142 Portal >>>
Read more

Schiaparelli (SkiAppUhRelEE)

Image
Schiaparelli EDM lander [skjapaˈɾɛlːi] was the Entry, Descent and Landing Demonstrator Module (EDM) of the ExoMars programme—a joint mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Russian space agency Roscosmos . [4] It was built in Italy and was intended to test technology for future soft landings on the surface of Mars . [5] It also had a limited but focused science payload that would have measured atmospheric electricity on Mars and local meteorological conditions. [2] [6] [7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schiaparelli_EDM_lander   Portal  
Read more

Solar System

Image
The Solar System [a] is the gravitationally bound system comprising the Sun and the objects that orbit it, either directly or indirectly. [b] Of those objects that orbit the Sun directly, the largest eight are the planets , [c] with the remainder being significantly smaller objects, such as dwarf planets and small Solar System bodies . Of the objects that orbit the Sun indirectly, the moons , two are larger than the smallest planet, Mercury . [d] The Solar System formed 4.6 billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of a giant interstellar molecular cloud . The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun, with most of the remaining mass contained in Jupiter . The four smaller inner planets, Mercury , Venus , Earth and Mars , are terrestrial planets , being primarily composed of rock and metal. The four outer planets are giant planets , being substantially more massive than the terrestrials. The two largest, Jupiter and Saturn , are gas giants , being compose...
Read more