3 minutes of an angle

[FredC]

On Dec. 21 Jupiter and Saturn are going to appear close. The thing i read was .05 degrees of separation. If I did my math right that is 3 minutes of one degree. I read this back in February and have watched them get closer since then. They will have to hurry as it is getting close to the date. Probably not to far from the earth you could see Saturn eclipse Jupiter.

[butlersrangers]

Star of Bethlehem?

(Planetary event is on the 1st day of Winter - BTW).

[FredC]

Actually the wrong time of year. Dec. 25th was chosen as a date to try to unite Christians and pagans (first day that days could be perceived as getting longer). Star was on the move and led the astrologers to Herod before leading them to Jesus's birth site. Others did not see the "star". One could conclude that leading the astrologers to Herod first was Satan's attempt to kill Jesus.

This years close visual nearness (they will be millions of miles apart) of Saturn and Jupiter is something that does not happen very often. You may need to wait a couple hundred thousand years to see it again. By the way, watch to the west a little after sunset, you may want to start watching now, to know where to look and keep track of the "approach". We all know what 3 minutes of an angle looks like at 100 yards. They will appear close!

[FredC]

More info on the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. I was wrong about how often this occurs, about every 20 years with this one being the closest in 800 years. Looked at them last night and the closing of the gap is accelerating (now less than an inch at arms length). It will be low in the sky near sunset for you all in the northern latitudes. Worth catching if the weather cooperates for you.

https://www.iflscience.com/space/jupite ... -december/

[Hamish]

http://www.kragcollectorsassociation.co ... iew&id=495