Great Conjunction - Jupiter & Saturn - 2020 DEC 21

[CentaurZ]

On 2020 DEC 21 at 18:21 UT Jupiter and Saturn will appear to have a geocentric angular separation of only 6.1 arcminutes, the narrowest since 1623 and until 2080. However, those separations are not small enough for Jupiter to occult Saturn. The last such occultation occurred in 6857 BC, while the next two will both occur during 7541.

Great conjunctions between Jupiter and Saturn occur about every 20 years. That’s their mutual synodic (lapping) period with a mean value of 19.86 years. Sometimes the conjunctions are triple due to the effect of apparent retrograde motion, but not this time.

Photos and descriptions of the upcoming conjunction would be welcome additions to this thread.

 

 

Edited November 17, 2020 by CentaurZ

[RobertI]

Really looking forward to this one. Thanks for the additional useful information. 

[CentaurZ]

I noted in my opening post that this will be the narrowest angular separation between the two since 1623. Actually, the pair in 1623 was separated by only 5.2 arcminutes, but at an elongation from the Sun of less than 13˚. That would have been quite difficult to observe by naked eyes. The next earlier yet better separation than in 2020 was in 1226 at 2.1 arcminutes separation and 49˚ from the Sun. The 2080 separation will be 6.0 arcminutes, barely less than this year's 6.1 arcminutes. But the 44˚ elongation from the Sun will be better than this year's 30˚.

Edited November 28, 2020 by CentaurZ

[John]

Must try and find somewhere which gives me an uncluttered view to the SW. Saturn and Jupiter will be really low down from here on and around that date / time.

Edited November 29, 2020 by John

[Jiggy 67]

9 hours ago, John said:

Must try and find somewhere which gives me an uncluttered view to the SW. Saturn and Jupiter will be really low down from here on and around that date / time.

I’m considering a particular mountain in North Wales, COVID restrictions allowing. About half way up should give good unobstructed views to the South and SoutWest and there is a car park there. I may have my new SW 100ED by then which will be easier to transport than the 200PDS. 
I have no experience of fracs, do you think it would be more suitable for this event than the newt???

[Mark at Beaufort]

I have a location quite close to me with a good view of this area of sky. I will take my Heritage 130P and a zoom eyepiece. I may start a few days earlier just in case I am clouded out on the 21st. Its worth checking out your eyepiece FOV in Stellarium from about 17th onwards to get an idea what you might observe.

[John]

1 hour ago, Jiggy 67 said:

I’m considering a particular mountain in North Wales, COVID restrictions allowing. About half way up should give good unobstructed views to the South and SoutWest and there is a car park there. I may have my new SW 100ED by then which will be easier to transport than the 200PDS. 
I have no experience of fracs, do you think it would be more suitable for this event than the newt???

I have a few hills around me with a clearish and lowish SW horizon. From home though that direction is obscured by all sorts of things. Already Saturn and Jupiter are more or less un-viewable from home.

Marks idea of "bracketing" either side of the 21st is sensible given the weather we get.

With the targets so low down I will probably use a refractor both to cut through the atmosphere and the ergonomics of the instrument (on a tall tripod) makes getting onto targets close to the horizon a bit easier. The 12 inch dob is not an instrument to cart up and down hills either !

 

 

 

 

[Nik271]

I'm planning to take my 20x80 bins with a tripod to a field nearby, don't fancy carting the mount+scope unless the forecast is 100% solid for clear sky. 

[Paul M]

Ah, there is a parallel thread to this, I thought I'd contributed...

Here is what stellarium thinks of it.

The second simulation would be a great imaging capture. But I doubt it'll be easy or even doable given the difference in brightness of the the planets and the brightness of the sky.

I'm starting a night shift at 6:30 that evening so I doubt it will be me taking the groundbreaking image! Maybe get the bins on them though

[John]

2 hours ago, Nik271 said:

I'm planning to take my 20x80 bins with a tripod to a field nearby, don't fancy carting the mount+scope unless the forecast is 100% solid for clear sky. 

That might be the sort of plan that I follow. Much easier to get my 11x70's to a good vantage point and they should show the two planets plus the Jovian moons quite well.

 

[RT65CB-SWL]

Managed to book an annual leave request at such short notice and accepted by my employer.

 

On 29/11/2020 at 00:46, John said:

Must try and find somewhere which gives me an uncluttered view to the SW. Saturn and Jupiter will be really low down from here on and around that date / time.

Same here! 

[nightfisher]

On 29/11/2020 at 00:46, John said:

Must try and find somewhere which gives me an uncluttered view to the SW. Saturn and Jupiter will be really low down from here on and around that date / time.

I have the open  view but will it be clear, not likely here in queensbury, but if it is then scope will be out

[Alan White]

I so look forward to this
and the obviously clear night that will accompany the event 😉

This was one of my upcoming events that I included in my clubs Observing Highlights session,
but accompanied it with the best by eye or binoculars as its so low down and may be a difficult one due to obstructions.

I will take a drive out for a clearer horizon, following the rules in place at that time.
Good luck to everyone catching a glimpse.

I would add, its work a look now, they are notably closing and a thumbs width apart last night naked eye.

[John]

It's worth a look anytime now if you get a clear sky. The chances of a clear sky at the time they are actually closest has to be slim given the conditions recently.

While I'm looking forward to seeing them close together, I've been in this hobby long enough not to pin too much on such events

 

[alan potts]

28 minutes ago, John said:

It's worth a look anytime now if you get a clear sky. The chances of a clear sky at the time they are actually closest has to be slim given the conditions recently.

While I'm looking forward to seeing them close together, I've been in this hobby long enough not to pin too much on such events

 

Made mistake of buying gear in front of 31st, you know the rest, maybe by 21st I will be forgiven.

Alan

[Scooot]

Watch them move into position, a screen shot from Sky Safari, it might be the best view if this cloud doesn’t go away! If it posts that is  

[CentaurZ]

Only one more day to go. 😎

[inFINNity Deck]

Today their separation was only 9.5", already close enough to be captured with my C11/ZWO ASI174MM combination. As the forecast for tomorrow is not all too well, I imaged the two today:

Nicolàs

[CentaurZ]

The hour has arrived. 😎

[Cleetus]

Cloudy here (South east) I'm afraid.

[wulfrun]

18 minutes ago, CentaurZ said:

The hour has arrived. 😎

Along with the clouds. Grateful I've seen it get close over the last 3 nights, today was forecast cloudy and for once, smack on 😞

[John]

No window to view them today - solid cloud and rain all day and on into the night.

Glad I saw them yesterday: 9 arc minutes vs 6 arc minutes - not a lot of difference ?

 

[cloudsweeper]

38 minutes ago, John said:

No window to view them today - solid cloud and rain all day and on into the night.

Glad I saw them yesterday: 9 arc minutes vs 6 arc minutes - not a lot of difference ?

 

Same here John.  No, not a lot of difference.  Saturn just a little way along the line near Jupiter's moons and slightly closer to Jupiter itself.  Glad I had a good view yesterday evening; rain and total cloud now!

Doug.

Edited December 21, 2020 by cloudsweeper

[Moonshed]

The forecast was poor but we live in hope, nonetheless the heavens were clouded over from horizon to horizon. Oh well, maybe next time 😄

 

[Mr Spock]

Cloudy here, but I did see it yesterday.