I’ve been watching Jupiter closely since mid summer, and I hadn’t expected much of this conjunction. Cool they’ll be a moon’s width apart, yippy.
That casualness has been turned on its head this week as the distance between them seems closer than the moon’s diameter, heck last night it seemed less than half the moon’s diameter. Staring at it, if you have a good imagination and used the moon’s crescent to triangle the position of the sun below Earth’s horizon and then studying those two stars, viscerally visualizing them as actually being planets within our solar system following their respective orbits, (that took the Voyagers one and two years close).
Pondering on all that, imagine these orbs orbiting that sun, as we do the same, it’s one of those moments when science can reveal it’s mystical side to those who have eyes that see, a mind that learns, and an imagination that can visualize.
Cheers, here’s to wishing you dark skies.
Great Conjunction 2020 - Live Views of Jupiter and Saturn from Exeter, UKhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfcVvID6xXA
Physics at ExeterIn late December 2020, the two largest planets in our Solar System, Jupiter and Saturn, will be so close in the sky that they’ll both be visible through a telescope eyepiece at the same time. Such close passes are known as Great Conjunctions. The Great Conjunction of 2020 will be the closest in almost 400 years.
In this live stream the Astrophysics Group at the University of Exeter and the Exeter Science Centre try to bring you live views of Jupiter and Saturn from a telescope. We also have a panel of expert speakers answering questions. More information about the event: http://jupitersaturn2020.org