There are billions of stars in our galaxy alone, some being more magnificent and unique than others. The Christmas star will be a sight to see next week. So what is it? According to NASA, to the human eye the planets Jupiter and Saturn will appear a tenth of a degree apart, which is about the same thickness as a dime. It will almost look like one big star or a double planet. When this happens it’s called a great conjunction. Conjunctions happen about every twenty years, but this one is extra special. Rarely do they happen at night for all to see. This will be the closest the two planets have been together in 400 years. The last time it happened at night was 800 years ago in 1226. A good way to think of our solar system is like a racetrack. Each planet has its own lane. Over the past couple weeks the planets Saturn and Jupiter have been catching up to each other with everything culminating on the 21st. You can see the planets now through the 21st, but they’ll be the closest together on the 21st.
While to us they will look very close together on the 21st, in actuality they will still be hundreds of millions of miles apart. They won’t be this close together for another sixty years. The winter solstice has nothing to do with the two planets coming together. Instead, the winter solstice means a change in seasons. A great conjunction can happen at any time. However, with Christmas right around the corner, this year, it seems like the timing could not have been any better. Biblical scholars have a variety of views on what the star in the Christmas story may have been. Some say it could have been a great conjunction of three planets instead of two.
