Christmas Star to be visible this festive season for first time in 800 years.
On December 21, a bright object will appear in the night’s sky. Astronomers have dubbed it the ‘Christmas Star’ due to it appearing over the festive season.
However, the astronomical object is not a star, but rather a conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter - the two largest planets in the solar system.
Both planets can easily be seen, as they will be the celestial bodies which look like stars next to the Moon.
From Earth’s perspective, the planet’s will be so close together that they will appear as one bright object.
On December 21, the planets will be so close together in the night’s sky that it will be the closest they have been since 1226.
The next time they will be that near to each other will come in 2080.
When the planets combine in the night’s sky, it is called the Great Conjunction.
The pair often appear together on average every 20 years or so, but rarely do they appear as close as they will on December 21.
The last time these two worlds were in conjunction was on May 31, 2000, and after this upcoming conjunction on December 21, 2020, the next time won’t be until November 5, 2040.
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