PENSACOLA: The solar system’s two biggest planets, Jupiter and Saturn, came within planetary kissing range in Monday’s evening sky, an intimacy that will not occur again until 2080. But with the naked eye, they would merge into a “highly luminous” double planet, said Florent Deleflie from the Paris Observatory. “The Grand Conjunction refers to the period when two planets have relatively similar positions in relation to Earth,” said Deleflie. Jupiter, which is the larger planet, takes 12 years to revolve around the sun, while Saturn takes 29 years. Every 20 years or so, they appear to observers on Earth to come closer to each other.

Source: Manila Times December 22, 2020 17:35 UTC