BETHLEMAN STAR...

It has been 800 years since Jupiter and Saturn have aligned so closely as what they did on December 21st.  In fact they almost appeared to collide when viewed from earth, thus giving them the name "Christmas Star"...

It was a once in a life time event to see it as it will not happen again in our life time and it was only visible for about an hour or more after sunset...

While Saturn and Jupiter's orbits bring the planets into alignment once every 20 years or so,  but this year marks the first time since 1623 that the two have passed this close to one another.

The two largest planets in our solar system are coming closer together than they have been since the Middle Ages, and it’s happening just in time for Christmas - hence the nickname of the “Christmas Star.”

While it’s not an actual star, the two planets certainly made a bright splash in the night sky.

On the night of December 21 - the winter solstice in the north, the summer solstice in the south - Jupiter and Saturn will appear so closely aligned in our sky that they will look like a double planet.

This close approach is called a conjunction.  According to NASA, the fact that this event is happening during the solstice is pure coincidence. 

Alignments between these two planets are rather rare, occurring once every 20 years or so, but this conjunction is exceptionally rare because of how close the planets will appear to one another,

You’d have to go all the way back to just before dawn on March 4, 1226, to see a closer alignment between these objects visible in the night sky.

While these two planets may appear close, they are still hundreds of millions of miles apart, according to  NASA.  

Hope for clear skies because the conjunction will be visible around the world, with the best perspective for those near the equator.

The further north a viewer is, the less time they’ll have to catch a glimpse of the conjunction before the planets sink below the horizon.

In Australia, the conjunction will be best visible just after 8 pm WST or 11 pm AEDT, and there will be just a small window within which to view it.

“To see the conjunction no matter where you are in the world, you will need to go out in the early evening and if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, you will need to look low in the West and Jupiter will be on the left and Saturn will be on the right at about the 4 o’clock position from Jupiter.

 

This phenomena was definitely worth recording especially as it was around Christmas.  One has to wonder what heavenly phenomena took place the night the wise men followed the star to the place that Jesus was back in the bible....