Cyprus Mail 19 December 2020 - by Gina Agapiou
The great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn has started, and the planets will share their Christmas ‘kiss’ on Monday looking like one bright star, which will also be visible from Cyprus.
The orbit of the two planets aligns about once every 20 years, according to astronomers, however it has been nearly 800 since their conjunction occurred at night and at such close proximity to one another.
Due to the pandemic, no official events have been organised to watch the spectacle with a telescope, but people will be able to see the phenomenon by looking southwest within an hour after sunset.
1010 Asteroskopeion posted a video of the giant planets that started appearing close to each other on December 17 and can be seen together with a telescope.
In a letter explaining the importance of the conjunction, Fakas private institute reminded everyone who owns a telescope to watch the planets “after sunset and until 6.30pm”.
The planets will still be divided by approximately 730 million kilometres, and the Earth will be 890 million kilometres from Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system.
Some scientists have said connected the star of Bethlehem, which according to the Bible guided the three wise men to where Jesus was born, with a similar conjunction of the two planets.
According to Earth Sky radio “there’s even some possibility that Jupiter was involved in the original ‘Christmas star’ story. Some believe the Christmas star was really a conjunction – or close meeting – of Jupiter with two other planets, Saturn and Mars.”
The planets’ next close alignment is calculated to be on March 15, 2080.
