This holiday season, the most special thing to see in the sky won’t be flying reindeer pulling a sleigh, but rather a rare celestial rendezvous—a cosmic gift of sorts, many lifetimes in the making. On December 21, Jupiter and Saturn will meet in a “great conjunction,” the closest they could be seen in the sky together for nearly 800 years.
Image: Saturn (top) and Jupiter (below) appear close together after sunset as seen from Shenandoah National Park on Dec. 13, 2020. The planetary pair will reach the pinnacle of their “great conjunction” on Dec. 21, coming within a tenth of a degree of each other in Earth’s sky. Credit: Bill Ingalls NASA
