With Saturn and Jupiter aligning perfectly well on December 21, 2020, you would be able to see a ‘Christmas Star’ for the first time in 800 years.
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2020 has been an upsetting year for many but still, everyone is looking forward to Christmas as a season of hope. And now we have the opportunity to catch a glimpse of a Christmas Star since the middle ages when Saturn and Jupiter will align together in the sky to create a super-bright point of light.
This beautiful phenomenon is known as the ‘Christmas Star’ or the ‘Star of Bethlehem’. “Alignments between these two planets are rather rare, occurring once every 20 years or so,” explained Patrick Hartigan, an astronomer at Rice University.
“But this conjunction is exceptionally rare because of how close the planets will appear to be to one another. 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.”
How to watch a Christmas Star?
You can see the Christmas Star anywhere in the world on December 21, 2020, and scientists say that we will be able to watch as Saturn and Jupiter get closer and closer for the entire week before that.
From the northern hemisphere, you need to look to the southwest from about 45 minutes after sunset in your area and you will need a regular telescope to see the Christmas Star in the night sky.
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