What is Christmas Star?

What is a Christmas Star?

After nearly 400 years, Saturn and Jupiter will be brought closest in the night sky by an astronomical event called the “great conjunction” popularly referred to as the “Christmas Star”.
A conjunction is a name given to any event where planets or asteroids appear to be very close together in the sky when viewed from the Earth.
Astronomers use the term great conjunction to describe meetings of the two biggest planets in the solar system, Jupiter and Saturn.
The Great Conjunction happens once in about 20 years because of the time each of the planets takes to orbit around the Sun. This year, however, the event is rare because the planets will come the closest to each other in nearly four centuries
Jupiter takes roughly 12 years to complete one lap around the Sun and Saturn takes 30 years (Saturn has a larger orbit and moves more slowly because it is not as strongly influenced by the Sun’s gravitational force as planets that are closer to the Sun).
Jupiter: It is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. Jupiter’s iconic Great Red Spot is a giant storm bigger than Earth that has raged for hundreds of years.
Saturn: It is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the solar system. Adorned with thousands of beautiful ringlets, Saturn is unique among the planets.

Source: TH

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