How to observe the convergence of Saturn and Jupiter, which happens once every 400 years?

Mercury, Venus and other planets close to usmoving around the sun. They rotate in their orbits at different speeds, so their location in our sky is constantly changing. Australian scientists recently reported that Saturn and Jupiter will come as close as possible to each other in December. This means that we will have the opportunity quickly detect and examine them with the naked eye... But you need to do this in the first week of December,because already towards the middle, these two planets will approach so close to each other that they will look like one point. The so-called "great conjunction" occurs only once in a lifetime, so let's figure out how to find Saturn and Jupiter.

The rapprochement between Saturn and Jupiter occurs once every 20 years, but the maximum is only once every 400 years.

Rapprochement of Saturn and Jupiter

An event that happens once every 20 years wastold in the scientific publication ABC Science. The convergence of Saturn and Jupiter really happens quite often and each person has a chance to see this sight about 3-4 times in life. But in 2020, the convergence will be maximum. The distance between celestial objects will be only a tenth of a degree, which is about a fifth of the width of the moon. That is why it is better not to miss the 2020 event - the maximum convergence occurs once every 400 years. The last time this happened was back in 1623.

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun

According to astrophotographer Anthony WesleyWesley), the convergence of Saturn and Jupiter is best observed in early December. The fact is that now the planets are high and city lights do not particularly interfere with seeing them with the naked eye. To see them, you need to go outside and look west. The photo below shows where Saturn (small dot) and Jupiter (large and bright dot) are in the sky. To find them, focus on the location of the stars that are just below. It is important that the sky is clear during viewing.

This is how Saturn and Jupiter are located in the sky in early December 2020.

About an hour after sunset on October 21, boththe planets will be on the same line, so it will seem that they have merged into one point. If you have a telescope, or at least binoculars, chances are you will be looking at Jupiter's largest moons: Ganymede, Europa, Io and Callisto. After the approach, the planets will begin to move away from each other and it will be much more difficult to detect them. The next closest approach is expected only in 2080, but it will not be as strong as in mid-December.

See also: Why does Jupiter's moon Europa glow in the dark?

How to look at the starry sky?

If you can't find the ones you are interested inplanets in the sky, you can use special applications for smartphones. Personally, I use the free version of Star Walk 2, but there are many other options for Android and iOS. Usually, in these applications, you just need to allow access to your location and point the camera at the starry sky. In augmented reality mode, you can see the names of all visible planets and the names of the constellations. So there should be no problems at all with the detection of Saturn and Jupiter.

Application interface Star Walk 2. If you know something better - share in the comments

To better see distant planets, it is betterjust go outside the city. The fact is that city lighting makes it difficult to look at celestial objects and astronomers are especially worried about this phenomenon. This problem even has a name - "light pollution", which I already mentioned in this article. It arises not only due to city lights, but also due to the fault of numerous satellites. SpaceX intends to send about 12,000 Starlink satellites into Earth orbit, and for this it has been heavily criticized.

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Actually, there is a lot going on in space.interesting. In 2004, scientists discovered the asteroid Apophis, the size of which is comparable to the height of the largest buildings in the world. For a long time it was considered a safe object, but recently it was found out that it suddenly changed its trajectory and could one day collide with the Earth. In 2029, the asteroid will approach us very close, but nothing bad should happen. But there is a possibility that the catastrophe will happen during the next rendezvous. You can read more about this danger in this material.