The Great Conjunction is also being called the Christmas Star (Image: GETTY)
While we say that the two planets will appear together , they will actually be more than 450 million miles apart, highlighting the sheer size of the solar system.
In fact, such is the distance between the two that Saturn will actually be more than twice as far away from our planet than Jupiter.
As such, Jupiter will be the main contributor to the shining star , appearing 11 times brighter than the ringed planet.
With the planets forming the Great Conjunction on Winter Solstice, astronomers are dubbing the phenomenon the Christmas Star.
| UPDATED: 09:10, Mon, Dec 21, 2020
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The Great Conjunction of 2020 promises to be one of the most exciting astronomical phenomena of the year. Tonight (December 21) - the day of the winter solstice - Saturn and Jupiter will come within 0.1 degrees of another - the closest the planets have come together in nearly 400 years. And you will not want to miss this potentially once-in-a-lifetime event, as the gas giants will not come this close again until March 2080.
According to the Bible, a star appeared in the sky which guided the three wise men to the stable where Jesus Christ was born to shower him in gifts.
In Matthew 2:9, it says: When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.
In astronomical terms, there is no star which matches the description of the Star of Bethlehem.
This either leaves three options: A miraculous star appeared to guide the three wise men to the newly born messiah, there was no star at all and the account is fictional, or a rare astronomical event took place which could have been misconstrued as a star - such as the Great Conjunction.