Jupiter and Saturn draw closer than they have in centuries to form a ‘Christmas Star’
“On December 21st, if you look up towards the West just after sunset, what you should see is Jupiter and Saturn getting closer to one another than they've been in anyone on this planet's lifetime,” says Jackie Faherty, an Astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History.
This Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn has been coined the ‘Christmas Star’, not only because of it’s festive timing, but because of the connections that some experts theorize historical event may have to astronomical phenomenons from the past.
“What happens in astronomy which I think is really cool, is that we can go back through historical texts and we can locate when somebody has said something in a story or a folklore that we can connect back to an astronomical event,” she says. “A biblical story that is told around Christmas time is of three wise men being guided by a star.”
Faherty explains that because the atmosphere tends to distort the way things appear, if 2 things are near to each other in the sky they can appear blended into one bright spot. “In this case, the star of Bethlehem idea may very well just have been a great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, which is bright and brilliant and no one would be missing it.”
The next time to expect a Jupiter & Saturn Conjuction that stands up to this one is in the year 2080, and then not again until 2417, so you may want to catch it while you can.
Video Transcript
JACKIE FAHERTY: My name is Jackie Faherty, and I'm an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History. On December 21, if you look up towards the West just after sunset, what you should see is Jupiter and Saturn getting closer to one another than they've been in anyone's lifetime. We see it on Earth almost like we're at a theater looking out.
Jupiter and Saturn out there at the outskirts of the solar system are moving around the sun at different rates. From the amphitheater of Earth's viewpoint, we see them come closer to each other or farther away from each other at different points. The last time that Jupiter and Saturn were this close to each other was in 1623, but you couldn't see them behind the glare of the sun. You'd have to go back to the year 1226 to get to the next best one, which compares to this one that's coming up on December 21.
We can go back through a historical texts and locate when somebody has said something that we can connect back to an astronomical event. A biblical story that is told around Christmas time is of three wise men being guided by a star. This conjunction is very bright. And because the atmosphere tends to distort the way things look, it can take two things and blend them into each other.
And in this case, a star of Bethlehem idea may very well just have been a great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, which is bright and brilliant. And no one would be missing it that was looking up. The next time they're even going to come close to this is the year 2080 in 60 years. And after that, the year 2417 is the next time anybody gets to claim they've seen anything this close.
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