(Deepshikha Gautam, Intern Journalist) Nainital: Jupiter and Saturn, the largest planets in our solar system, are going to be seen ‘touching’ each other after 397 years.
This coincidence is going to happen on the shortest day of the year i.e. December 21. In this rare astronomical event, the virtual distance between the two will be just 0.06 degrees. Also, there will be a chance to see the moons of these two in a gap of one degree.
According to astronomer Dr. Shashi Bhushan Pandey of Aryabhatta Observational Science Research Institute (Arise), Nainital, Saturn and Guru can be seen with eyes these days. Now, these two are going to make an exciting combination, in which Guru and Shani will be seen touching each other while revolving in their orbit. Saturn, wrapped in brightly colored rings like silver, will be seen along with its satellites Titan and Reya. At the same time, the four moons of the Guru i.e. satellite Gaynamid, Celesto, IO, and Europa will also be seen in the same way. In this event, the distance between the two planets, as well as their satellites, will remain in the gap of one degree.
Come to the moon of the Guru, it will look as if it is pasted. This distance between them will be interpretable when viewed from the Earth, while in reality, the distance between Saturn and Guru is 65.5 million km on average. While away this distance averages 2.21 billion km. While the mutual distance between their satellites will be 1.5 lakh to 25 million km. In this rare astronomical event, the satellites of both planets can be seen only with the help of telescopes. After this, these two planets will reach just as close to each other after 376 years. However, every 20 years, both of them approach each other.
The great scientist Galileo Galilei saw Saturn and Guru for the first time so close to each other in 1623 after making telescopes. The truth of many mysterious and misleading facts of the universe, including planetary constellations, was revealed by the availability of telescopes. This astronomical event is going to be the shortest day of the year. Due to this, its interestingness increases further. This incident can be seen in the western sky. Scientists have named this rare astronomical phenomenon the Great Conjunction. Conjunctions occur frequently in the solar system, but the occurrence of the extremely close proximity of two large planets occurs only after centuries. Because of which it has been named Great Conjunction.
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