Jupiter and Saturn Great Conjunction: Stunning photos show ‘Christmas Star’ shining in the night sky across the world

JUPITER and Saturn came closer together last night than at any other time in the past 400 years.

Cloudy weather ruined the once-in-a-lifetime event for many stargazers in the UK but luckily photographers all over the world were able to capture stunning snaps.

Jupiter and Saturn captured from Malaga in Spain with a telescope and cameraCredit: Carlos Ayala/Triangle News

The 'Great Conjunction' as seen from California as a bright dot on the horizon — The ‘Great Conjunction’ as seen from California as a bright dot on the horizonCredit: Rex Features

Another close up from CaliforniaCredit: Rex Features

The planets won’t be aligning closely again until 2080.

It’s an event known as the ‘Great Conjunction’.

The planets appeared together low on the southwesterly horizon just after dark and were so bright that they could be seen from most cities.

With the naked eye they looked like one star.

The planets don't always come this close together — The planets don’t always come this close togetherCredit: Bosh/Levine/Lowell Discovery Telescope

With the naked eye, the planets looked like one big star on the horizonCredit: Kennedy News/ Nigel A Ball

Some people are referring to the event as the forming of a “Christmas Star” or “Star of Bethlehem”, while others thought it meant the apocalypse was coming.

Despite looking close with the naked eye, Jupiter and Saturn remained 450 million miles apart in space.

The last time stargazers could observe this event was back in the Middle Ages on March 4, 1226.

The two planets did also come very close together in the 1600s but this wasn’t said to be visible from Earth.

A man setting up his huge space telescope in California yesterdayCredit: Getty Images – Getty

Sometimes the ‘Great Conjunction’ happens during the day so isn’t visible and a conjunction can occur around every 20 years but isn’t always as close.

From Earth the plants looked around 0.06º away from each other.

That’s about 1/5 of the diameter of a full Moon.

According to Astrology.com, some astrologists believe Jupiter and Saturn coming close together leads to old forms dying and new growth beginning.

How far away is Jupiter from Earth?

Learn how long it takes to get the largest planet in the solar system…

At the closest point in their respective orbits, Jupiter and Earth are around 365 million miles apart.
But because neither planet spins around the sun in a perfect circle, nor at the same speed, this number fluctuates dramatically.
When they are furthest apart the planets are 601 million miles apart, more than two thirds farther away than they are at their nearest.
As it is further away Jupiter takes 11.86 Earth-years to complete one orbit of the sun.
While we travel around our star we catch up with the gas Giant once every 399 days, causing the gas giant to appear to travel backwards in the night sky.