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A special treat in the sky tonight (Monday night December 21). Jupiter and Saturn will be in conjunction (something that happens every 20 years) but this one is super special. Jupiter and Saturn will be within 1/10th of a degree from each other (1/5th the diameter of the moon). This hasn't been observed since 1226 AD (or CE). With a small telescope you will be able to see both planets in the same field of view, with several of their moons also visible. A decent set of binoculars will also give a nice view. With the naked eye, they will be so close together that they come close to merging. Look low in the southwest sky, about 1/2 hour to 40 minutes after sunset. The moon will be above and to the east of the two planets. Jupiter is much brighter than Saturn and will be slight below Saturn. Saturn will look like a bright yellow star. Neither of them will twinkle unless you have a very turbulent atmosphere. (It isn't "twinkle, twinkle little planet). They are not colliding, Saturn is about twice as far away as Jupiter. Don't wait too long. The planets will be setting fairly soon after that time (around 40 degrees north latitude look out starting around 5:20-5:40PM - twilight will be fading and Jupiter will be the first object you will see other than the moon).
If it is cloudy, the event will be somewhere on the internet. If you miss it, the next several days, Jupiter and Saturn will be moving away from each other, but pretty slowly, so it will be still pretty spectacular.
Nothing found for Astronomy Essen On Dec 21 2020
From Rome, the European Virtual Telescope Project will begin streaming images of the conjunction starting about 7:30AM Pacific Time, 10:30AM Eastern Time. That is the same as 4:30PM Central European Time, shortly after the sun sets.
Virtual Telescope's WebTV - The Virtual Telescope Project 2.0
Larry (your astronomer friend)
If it is cloudy, the event will be somewhere on the internet. If you miss it, the next several days, Jupiter and Saturn will be moving away from each other, but pretty slowly, so it will be still pretty spectacular.
Nothing found for Astronomy Essen On Dec 21 2020
From Rome, the European Virtual Telescope Project will begin streaming images of the conjunction starting about 7:30AM Pacific Time, 10:30AM Eastern Time. That is the same as 4:30PM Central European Time, shortly after the sun sets.
Virtual Telescope's WebTV - The Virtual Telescope Project 2.0
Larry (your astronomer friend)
