Christmas Star

Jupiter and Saturn will align in the night sky on 21 December 2020 in an event astronomers call the “great conjunction” — also referred to as the “Christmas Star” — marking the planets’ closest encounter in nearly 400 years.

Daily Current Affairs Quiz 2020

Key-Points

On the day almost all the viewers across the world will be able to see the two gas giants very close to each other, while they will still be hundreds of millions of miles apart in space.

A conjunction is not unique to Saturn and Jupiter however, it is the name given to any event where planets or asteroids appear to be very close together in the sky when viewed from the Earth.

Astronomers use the word “great” for the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn because of the planets’ sizes.

The “Great Conjunction” happens once in about 20 years because of the time each of the planets take to orbit around the Sun. Jupiter takes roughly 12 years to complete one lap around the Sun and Saturn takes 30 years.

This year, however, the event is rare because the planets will come the closest to each other in nearly four centuries.