The two largest planets in our solar system formed the highly rare “great conjunction” when Jupiter and Saturn came closer together than they have in roughly eight hundred years. On Monday, the conjunction was visible in the night sky, something that is not typical for such an event. In fact, the two planets were just 0.1 degrees apart. For context, that is less than the diameter of a full moon. At some angles, the two created a “double-planet” effect, by appearing to overlap. No need to worry, though, while from Earth the planets look as if they might collide, they remained hundreds of millions of miles apart. With the spectacular timing, some are referring to the conjunction as the “Christmas Star.” Both Jupiter and Saturn will remain to appear extremely close together in the night sky in the following weeks, so if you’re feeling inspired, go stargazing and see if you can spot them!
