On Monday, December 21 the RCS Astronomy Club is hosting a virtual "Great Conjunction" star party. The event centers on being able to observe the great conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn. According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), this event has become known popularly as the “Christmas Star,” which is an especially vibrant planetary conjunction easily visible in the evening sky over the next two weeks as the bright planets Jupiter and Saturn come together, culminating on the night of Dec. 21.
This is the first time in nearly 400 years since the planets passed this close to each other in the sky, and nearly 800 years since the alignment of Saturn and Jupiter occurred at night, as it will for this year. Learn more here.
Want to view it? It’s easy to do and you just need to go outside (at dusk) and look to the southwest (left of sunset) for a super bright star. What you will actually be looking at is a great conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn. Super bright Jupiter has been "catching up" with less bright Saturn all summer long.
RCS students can access the following link to submit their own photos of the night sky for publication on this web page. Please note, you must have an RCS school email account to submit images. Interested in joining the RCS Astronomy Club? To receive details or learn more about the club, please contact Jennifer Fisk-Jaskolka at jfisk@rcscsd.org. The club is open to any interested RCS students.
The forecast is for partly cloudy skies, so we may get lucky. Fingers crossed and enjoy the nighttime sky, while stargazing with friends and family!