Sunday, December 20, 2020

Urging All Confessors to Check Out the Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the Southwestern Sky Tonight, Tomorrow Night (Closest Apparent Approach, the "Official" Conjunction) and for Some Days Thereafter

[And a very happy 55th birthday this day to Craig "Junior" Miller.]

 Go out 45 minutes/hour after sunset and look to the southwest for the brightest thing in the sky (other than the moon).  You might think you're only seeing one object, but look more carefully, perhaps slightly avert your gaze.  They will only be one-tenth of a degree apart -- about one-fifth the apparent diameter of the full moon.  Saturn, which is usually intrinsically bright, will be much dimmer than Jupiter.  As you can see from the chart, it's about twice as far away.  Jupiter and Saturn will in fact be over a half-billion miles apart at that time.

 Don't wait too long, as the conjunction will set not long into the night.

 Great Conjunction of 2020

 Wishing all Confessors a safe and happy Christmas.

       -- Plainsman


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11 comments:

  1. I was underwhelmed by the planet/star thing. In fact, I went to a place which had less light pollution (some land in Alvarado). But it just wasn't what it was hyped up to be.

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  2. What did you read that it was hyped up to be, James?

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  3. James, I think you broke my brain with that one, pal!

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  4. It just wasn't that bright. I drove out of town 25 minutes away to get a good view and came away with "meh".

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  5. The phenomenon's brightness isn't what makes it so special, James. It's the singularity of the event. It makes Haley's Comet look like a regular occurrence.

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  6. An uninteresting event, even when shown to be rare, is still uninteresting. I believe this was James’ point. It was heralded as a convergence that would look like one bright star and instead looked like two celestial bodies in close proximity. I share his feeling of being underwhelmed.

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  8. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  9. The dude still is, Plainsman.

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