From News Nation:
“‘Christmas
Star’ to light up December sky for first time in 800 years”
On Dec. 21,
humans can witness something not seen in nearly 800 years. That’s right, during
the upcoming winter solstice, Jupiter and Saturn are lining up to create an
incredibly bright star of wonder, or what is known as the “Christmas Star” or “Star
of Bethlehem.” These two planets haven’t appeared this (relatively) close
together from Earth’s vantage point since the Middle Ages. “Alignments between
these two planets are rather rare, occurring once every 20 years or so, but
this conjunction is exceptionally rare because of how close the planets will
appear to be to one another,” Patrick Hartigan, an astronomer at Rice
University, told Forbes. “You’d have to go all the way back to just before dawn
on March 4, 1226, to see a closer alignment between these objects visible in
the night sky.” Stargazers in the northern hemisphere should turn their heads
and telescopes to the southwest portion of the sky about 45 minutes after
sunset to see the planets align on Dec. 21. However, reportedly sightings can
be seen throughout that entire week. According to Forbes, a star-sighting of
this magnitude won’t occur again until 2080.
^ This is
pretty cool. I hope I’ll be able to see it. ^
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