Skywatchers are in for an end-of-year treat over the next few days — and you will not need a telescope to see it.
Jupiter and Saturn, the two largest planets in the solar system, will appear together in what is known as a “Great Conjunction” on Monday night.
Astronomy educator Gary Boyle, known as “The Backyard Astronomer,” says the two planets align every 20 years or so.
“But it’s the separation of the two that makes this very, very rare,” Boyle said in a phone interview Monday.
In fact, it has been nearly 400 years since Jupiter and Saturn passed this close to one another.
Boyle said the converging of the two planets — dubbed by many as the “Christmas Star” — will be visible to the naked eye.
He said stargazers should look toward the southwest just after sunset. Jupiter will look like a bright star and be easily visible, while Saturn will be slightly fainter and appear very close to it.
“It just makes a wonderful event to really draw people out of the house to look up at the sky, which we have been doing for thousands of years,” said Boyle. “That was the entertainment of many civilizations.”
While the huge gas giants will appear close together from Earth, they will remain hundreds of millions of kilometres apart in space.
Boyle said even though the “great conjunction” happens Monday night, the planets will remain close together over the coming days.
“As Jupiter keeps on rounding the sun — it takes Jupiter about 12 years to round the sun, Saturn about 30 years — Jupiter will just start to lengthen its separation over the next few nights and weeks,” he said.
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