Good illustration, Christmas star: Planets set to align in the night sky.

[elleng]

'Jupiter and Saturn are set to cross paths in the night sky, appearing to the naked eye as a "double planet".

The timing of this conjunction, as the celestial event is known, has caused some to suggest it may have been the source of a bright light in the sky 2,000 years ago.

That became known as the Star of Bethlehem.

The planets are moving closer together each night and will reach their closest point on 21 December.'

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-55364664

Watching the weather here (southern MD,) Tues. forecast = clear, Monday cloudy.

[alwaysinasnit]

1. Thanks for the tip, elleng. I'll be looking out for it.

[progree]

2. Get out tonight, or tomorrow night, or whenever, don't gamble on weather being good on the 21st

I hope people aren't too disappointed, it's not all that visually much. Saturn isn't very bright. Visually its going to be no different than Jupiter near a regular bright star, which happens often.

And remember that one has to get out an hour or at most two after sunset to see it, otherwise it will be set or very near setting.

There's nothing all that magical about December 21 as far as this thing -- they will be just a little bit closer than on say the 19th or 20th or 22nd or 23rd or 24th or 25th. It's not like a fucking eclipse where a miss is as good as a mile. So one should try to look for it early in the evening when one can starting like Saturday night.

I haven't been able to see it for nearly 2 weeks because of cloudy weather and being kind of low on the horizon and the 2 hour max early evening window.

[progree]

3. Actually, the BBC illustration is, well wrong

It has the Sun, Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn all in a line. If that were true, then Jupiter & Saturn would be observable all night, and highest above the horizon at midnight.

But in fact, Jupiter & Saturn are only visible up to a couple of hours low on the horizon after sunset. They should be drawn at like a 20 degree angle to the Sun-Earth line.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS4ImzeTyb_7wbea3yq8Z8UXf0zJdRjVR8dig&usqp=CAU

Anyway, Saturn, Jupiter, and Earth are all in a line. But not the Sun.

Heavily edited to get rid of my ASCII Art which was wrong too. The above photo looks right (one has to click the link, I don't know how to embed this beast without doing the Imgur thing).

[elleng]

5. I 'agree,' but it somehow caught my eye.

[progree]

6. Yup, the main thing is that Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn are all in a line, and thats why

Jupiter and Saturn look so close together. The BBC illustration made that part clear.

[elleng]

7. I actually got a pic, a few days ago/last week?, NO details but looked pretty close.

Just checked weather forecast; doesn't look hopeful, re: clouds, until Tuesday.

[progree]

8. Yeah, I stole your pic, it's mine now 😂😂😂 👀

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1228&pid=73174



That's my birthday, BTW.

[elleng]

9. GOOD!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!



Coming up, @ Birders, Great Blue Heron!

[progree]

10. Thanks for Bday wishes!

[lastlib]

4. I'm bringing out my telescope tonight!

hope to see some planetary action!