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Interesting Items...

Jupiter / Saturn Conjunction, 2020 Dec 21​


Low in the south-west just after sunset are currently Jupiter and Saturn, and their relative motions will bring them to just 6' (minutes of arc) separation on 21st December. The weather means I haven't actually seen them yet (edit: have now, 16th).

This is thought to be similar to the circumstances of the Star of Bethlehem (but this is in the west instead of the east!). It has been said that the brightness of Jupiter and Saturn will combine, but at 6' I don't believe that (the Moon is about 30' across).

Using frames downloaded from in-the-sky.org (© Dominic Ford) I have assembled a GIF showing the progress of the conjunction from 16th to 31st December, daily snapshots at 17.30:

97F1E7B4-20DC-46A4-92C6-A830E31843EA.gif
 
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The three wise men story and the star in the east just does not add up.
They allegedly 'followed the star of Bethlehem' purported to be in the east. If they were following said star FROM the east, the star must have been in the west.
 
I keep seeing planet(s) after dusk and before dawn out of a south facing window. Just couldn't be bothered (with everything else going on) to investigate what's what. So the gif is informative!
 
EEPhil said:
I keep seeing planet(s) after dusk and before dawn out of a south facing window. Just couldn't be bothered (with everything else going on) to investigate what's what. So the gif is informative!
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Mars is still spectacular.
 
Mike2 said:
Mars is still spectacular.
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Yes indeed, the only astronomical object to appear noticeably red to the naked eye.

After all the wet we had in the west yesterday, there were some cloud breaks after dusk plus I was driving so got more cloud breaks, and spotted the Jupiter-Saturn pair. Saturn is quite dim, but it is much further away than Jupiter, and at the moment we are looking at them from their near-to-furthest distance from Earth.

I think viewing the changes day by day will be far more interesting than just looking on the 21st.

Trev said:
The three wise men story and the star in the east just does not add up.
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Does any of it????
 
Question from a Christmas quiz doing the rounds (and I think the "official" answer is wrong):

60/5(7-5) = ?​

What does the team think (this could start some arguments)?
 
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