Jupiter and Saturn are about to have their closest conjunction in modern history. Don’t miss this once-in-a-millennium event.
In an event that hasn’t occurred in 800 years, Jupiter and Saturn will line up to create a bright “star” in the sky known as the “Christmas Star” or the “Star of Bethlehem”.
What makes this year’s spectacle so rare, then? It’s been nearly 400 years since the planets passed this close to each other in the sky from our vantage point, and nearly 800 years since the alignment of Saturn and Jupiter occurred at night, as it will tonight, allowing nearly everyone around the world to witness this “great conjunction”.
Tonight, the two planets will be just 0.1 degrees apart in the western sky–so close that some people will perceive them as a single brilliant “star”.
Update: Live feed from the Lowell Discovery Telescope.
Yup. I’ve got the bane of amateur astronomers everywhere here in Edmonton: overcast skies.
Did astronomy for years here in Edmonton. Eventually quit because of the constant cloudy night skies we get here. It seemed the only times there was a clear night was either during a full moon or an aurora borealis, which when finished would leave the sky murky all night. I hate the aurora borealis.
Edmonton is a cloud attractor. Edmonton sits in a basin (ancient lake bed? This would explain all the calcium in our water) which has something to do with it. When you leave Edmonton the skies miraculously clear.
Needless to say no star of Bethlehem for Edmontonians tonight.
Even a dozen or so years ago, the skies were a lot clearer. Much of it has to do, I’m sure, with the type of lighting that’s being used nowadays. (I hate the LEDs for another reason: they put out an awful lot of radio frequency noise and they’ve pretty much wiped out most of the amateur bands for me.)
By comparison, I have a pretty decent sky at my house in B. C. Unfortunately, I don’t have much time for astronomy while I’m there, plus with all the trees in my hard, and some nosy neighbours, setting up a telescope wouldn’t have much point. Fortunately, I wouldn’t have to go far out of town to get a decent view.
Dang it! I’ve been waiting 800 years for this, and our valley is socked in with a climate emergency! I blame Al Gore.
Glad I snagged my contingency pix on the last clear night (Friday) – fortunately my old 900mm F11 scope caught both planets nicely in one frame, with a nice crescent moon elsewhere for focus & size reference.
All I want for Christmas is a suitable cloud filter and/or a tripod high enough to get me and my astro gear above the muck…
UnMe’s holding out for Uranus.
It’s like Star Trek when they wipe out the Klingons.
I see two stars where there is one, so I will probably see four tonight, if the weather stays clear.
Don’t forget Mars which is about 20deg east of the spectacle and is also looking great these days….
Don’t forget Venus and Mercury in the morning, before sunrise!
It is clouded out here in YYC area as well, had a great veiw last night, some pictures taken as well.
You can veiw most of the planets in one night; Venus and mercury are up before the sun in the morning, Jupiter and Saturn are following the sun as it sets. Mars is to the left of the moon and also very close to us now. On each side of the moon is Neptune (on the right) and Uranus (to the left).
Hey BA, do you ever attend any star parties? Maybe we’ve seen each other, before?
Many fond memories of the QE Planetarium in YEG, which I’ve heard they’ve opened again, though not as an active planetarium. Also remember being in the ESSC as it was being built.
The closest I’ve been to a star party is whenever I set up my telescope outside my building during an eclipse. I invite passersby to take a look, who often accept my offer, and, many times, they go on their way with smiles on their faces. It’s particularly fun when parents lift up their children so that the youngsters can look into the eyepiece. The kiddies are bound to remember that.
I heard about the QEP re-opening. I’m old enough to remember when it was a new facility. If I recall correctly, it was built in the late 1950s. I’ve never been at the ESSC myself, though I know that one of my fellow hams helped out there at one time and even assisted in running the amateur radio station there.
Public outreach can be just as entertaining as the viewing!
When I was new to the area, I used to set up in the city park parking lot, after hours. I had an agreement with the local security patrols, they’d leave me alone and I’d watch for vandals etc.
One night, a different guy was on patrol, didn’t know him. He started badgering me, asking questions, what are you doing here, etc. I politely told him of my agreement with the others and that I was looking at Saturn (The rings were beautiful that night). Asked him if cared to have a look.
He looked taken aback, “Oh, no, I don’t believe in that!” He says.
I was stunned. I even offered to wave my hand in front of the scope to prove that at least it was real.
Nope. Wouldn’t have none of it!
VOWG is often right, people are stupid!
Otherwise, most people react quite favourably, especially in countries where a telescope is still “uncommon” to the average person.
I bring a small refractor, that fits in a case, along with all accessories and a collapsible tripod and head that fits in a little bag, with me when I travel. It’s been all over the world, over the years. It’s fun learning or relearning the sky for each location, and views from tropical islands with no light pollution for thousands of miles around, is breathtaking.
Zon:
My apartment manager’s about as dim. During the partial solar eclipse three years ago, I set up my reflector, complete with solar filter, outside and I also had a #16 welder’s lens on hand.
Like with other such events, I invited passersby to take a look. OK, so it wasn’t total, but it was still impressive, particularly since there were also some sunspots that were visible.
The manager just happened to be in the area, so I extended an invitation to her. She was aghast that I should be doing such a thing because she claimed that, according to what she saw on TV, it would damage the eyes. (Uh, do you really think that if I knew that it would be harmful, I’d ask you if you wanted to take a look?)
When I mentioned about the sunspots, her response was “What are they?” (mental face palm).
Yeah, she really is that dumb. There are times she makes AOC look like a member of Mensa.
Yep…cloudy in my part of not so northern Ontario also.
Apparently there is a live feed available on Weather network.
Thanks bluetech, I live in a rain forest on the west coast, and….it’s been raining for days, so thanks for the tip.
Always overcast when the cool stuff happens. Even missed Haley’s Comet because the weather wouldn’t cooperate.
In early 1986, I bought a ticket for a Halley’s Comet flight out of Calgary. Unfortunately, the moon was out that night, so all I got to see was a fuzzy blob.
More than a decade later, Comet Hale-Bopp graced our skies for several weeks, which more than made up for the earlier disappointment, particularly after it developed a second tail.
It goes to show that successful astronomical observations are heavily reliant on luck.
Snowfall warning for Southern Alberta with total amounts of 15 to 25 cm expected. Heavy snow will move into southwestern Alberta today then spread north and eastward through tonight. Snow will end by Tuesday evening.
@ 2 PM so far nothing. I walked 2.5 hrs today, grey sky.
The chicadees know something is going on they’re piling into the feeder like crazy.
So, no sky gazing tonight.
Nancy – snow started falling about 4:30. At least 1 cm on the ground now, and going strong. The weather network shows a very nasty storm cell tracking just along the border in Washington state; hope it doesn’t decide to hang a left and head our way.
It snowed all evening and about 9 pm I went out and shoveled about 8 inches of light snow. It’s still coming down lightly as I write this. I’ll have more to do in the a.m. because by the time I finished shoveling everything, there was another inch on the ground. I wanted to get ahead by splitting the job a bit.
Hope that’s it for a while.
Could not see the sky because of cloud cover where I live.
Damn! Heavy ground fog in the Bay Area forecast …
Isn’t it ironic though? Just as leftist government apparatchiks are CANCELLING Christmas … God Reminds us of the Birth of our savior, with a monumental display. I like God’s sense of timing and irony … Now if HE can just show the same on Jan. 6 … ?
Heh heh, Good luck with that Kenji.
Last July there was a pretty big fuzzy comet low in the sky to the north, visible to the eye, I saw it, told a neighbour about it, he’s into astronomy and didn’t know about it so he got out his telescope, I didn’t hear much about it, I guess the media didn’t get around to getting everybody excited about it.
This “climate” refugee from Calgary area is in Phoenix. The viewing tonight was spectacular! Got a great view/picture of the White Tank Mountains and Saguaro in the foreground and Jupiter/Saturn….wish I had my scope and better camera here, but alas, was a great viewing.
Rain and cloud most of the day on Vancouver Island and then it cleared up just in time for the one-hour-after-sunset viewing. The sun shines on the righteous I guess!
No luck near Wollongong, Australia either. Clouds everywhere.
I’m beginning to reconsider the clam that stellar phenomenae affect things on Earth…! They certainly do seem to constantly generate sky-covering clouds!!! The rarer the phenomenon, the greater likelihood of clouds…
We were supposed to give a space talk and then do a sky viewing at a place aeons ago once. When we pulled up, the evening sky was crystal clear, so we foolishly decided to do the talk first. By the time we emerged to set up the scopes, the clouds were literally visibly racing to cover the tiny skerrick of sky remaining…! It’s a wonder we didn’t also hear them laughing… No viewing that night…
I live in northeastern NB and Monday evening it was totally foggy, couldn’t see anything, barely see the moon. Same thing now this early Tuesday evening. Bah, humbug!