Saturn, top, and Jupiter, below, are seen after sunset from Shenandoah National Park, Sunday, Dec. 13, 2020, in Luray, Virginia. The two planets are drawing closer to each other in the sky as they head towards a “great conjunction” on December 21. Bill Ingalls / NASA
Tonight, Saturn and Jupiter will appear close enough to each other that they may look like a single bright star in the sky. This is the first time in hundreds of years this has happened and it won’t happen again in many of our lifetimes.
Student Reporter Olivia Streeter talked with Nick Rae, the Planetarium Educator at the Peoria Riverfront Museum, about this unique astronomical occurrence.