How to catch the 'Great Conjunction' of Jupiter and Saturn in the Halifax area - HalifaxToday.ca

It's called the Great Conjunction.

On Dec. 21, the solar system's two largest planets will be the closest they've been in 800 years.

"This is the first time Jupiter and Saturn have been this close since 1226," explained Saint Mary's University astrophysics professor, Dr. Rob Thacker. 

"If you go back that far, of course there were no telescopes then, so this will be the first one that's really close that we've been able to look at with telescopes."

And although next Monday is when they'll be the closest, the two planets are already not far apart, so you can already view them now. Thacker said the best time to try is at twilight, in and around 5:30 p.m.

He said you don't even need really dark skies to see them, but you do need an unobstructed southwesterly view.

"If you get out to, say, the east side of Long Lake ... you'd be able to see it over the trees on the other side of the lake there," he explained. "The south shore would be excellent as long as you're not next to a lighthouse because those are pretty bright."

"Blue Mountain as well, so there's lots of places."

Thacker said even if you don't have a telescope, you should be able to check them out with a good pair of binoculars.

"You can still just about see the rings of Saturn. They're really tiny but you know it's not a normal circle ... and you can see the moons of Jupiter with 10X50 binoculars without any trouble," he told NEWS 95.7's The Rick Howe Show.

"It's not going to be something you can magnify a huge amount because you have to look through so much atmosphere when things are low in the sky," Thacker added.

"I suspect the best views would be with 50, 60 or 70 times magnification. You probably won't be able to use much more than that."

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2020-12-16 17:45:00Z
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