The two main planets in the solar system, Jupiter and Saturn, came within a celestial kissing spectrum in Monday’s night sky, an intimacy that will not happen again until 2080.
This “great conjunction” as it is known to astronomy, happened inadvertently at the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, and at the beginning of the summer in the Global South.
In fact, the two planets were more than 730 million kilometres apart. Yet because of their alignment with Earth, they seemed to be closer to each other than at any point in almost 400 years. Optimal “conjunction” took place at 1822 GMT.
Monday’s best viewing conditions were in open skies and near to the Equator, while citizens in Western Europe and around a wide region of Africa had to train their sights to the southwest. But hundreds of space enthusiasts have gathered in Kolkata to watch—through a telescope at a science museum in the district, or from the nearby rooftops and open areas.
And in Kuwait, astrophotographers travelled to the desert west of Kuwait City to record the once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon.
Looking at a telescope or even a decent pair of binoculars, the two gas giants were separated by little more than a quarter of the full moon diameter.
