THE Great Conjunction treated gazers to a rare treat on December 21, 2020, with the “Christmas Star” lighting up skies around the world.
The celestial phenomenon sees Jupiter and Saturn align – but the 2020 Conjunction saw them meet at their closest point in almost 400 years. But when is the next Conjunction set to take place?
When is the next Great Conjunction?
The GReat Conjunction took place on Monday, December 21, 2020 and is considered a rare, once in-a-lifetime event.
In fact, the phenomenon last occurred hundreds of years ago.
However, we will not have to wait so long for the event to happen again, with the next conjunction set to take place on November 4, 2020.
After this, a following Conjunction will take place on April 7, 2060.
But these two Conjunctions will not be quite as impressive as the 2020 celestial event.
The is because planets will appear 11 times further apart, equivalent to precisely 1.1-degree separation.
Why is the next Great Conjunction so far away?
Great conjunctions happen when Jupiter, which laps the sun in a shade under 12 years, and Saturn, which orbits every 29.5 years, come into near alignment with the Earth.
Although the next alignment will take place in 20 years, it will not be until 2080 before the planets align so closely again.
Each great conjunction occurs about 119.16 years before or after the next or previous one of the same number.
The reason it is every second conjunction in the same constellational area instead of every one is that adjacent ones are less similar than ones two cycles apart,
This is because 119.16 years is closer to a whole number of years than 119.16÷2.
How common is a Great Conjunction?
During the 2020 great conjunction, the two planets were separated in the sky by 6 arcminutes at their closest point.
It was the closest separation between the two planets since 1623.
Dr Henry Throop, astronomer in the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters, said: “NASA refers to this event as a ‘Great’ Conjunction of planets.
“For thousands of years, people have had a strong connection to events in the sky.
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“Modern historians and astronomers have identified many cosmic events that can be tied to culture or religion.
“There was a conjunction between Saturn and Jupiter in the year 7 BC.
“People at the time could have observed and been inspired by this or other celestial events – such as a comet, a supernova, or an alignment between the stars and planets.”
