#zandoarts

I’m seeing a lot of folks share their pictures of the conjunction. Here’s one of mine from Saturday night!

Taken on my triplet refractor. Designed more for deep space astrophotography, so planetary shots like this aren’t super detailed. But I’m happy enough that all these moons show up.

What’s a conjunction?

Jupiter (12 year orbit) has finally caught up with Saturn (30 year orbit). From Earth's perspective, they appear extremely close together, in what astronomers call a conjunction. On Monday, Dec 21st, they will be at their closest. If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, look to the southwest just after sunset.

The media is calling it a "Christmas star", which is misleading since it is neither a star, nor occurring on Christmas. Know instead that you are looking at two massive, outer solar system worlds that rarely pass this close to each other.