Christmas star is here, first time since 1226

[Bill Dufour]

Saturn and Jupiter will be co-joined in the next few days. Look at dusk towards the west. Happens every 1,000 years or so.
Bill D.

https://www.space.com/great-conjunction-jupiter-saturn-christmas-star-2020-nasa-tips

[Lee Schierer]

It's been too cloudy here to see it. :(

[Bill Dufour]

Lucky the tule fog burns off so it is clear at sunset.
Bil lD

[Bert Kemp]

I've been watching them get closer and closer over the last couple months. Tonight is the 21st as I look with the naked eye they look like a star but thru Binoc's there clearly separated . I was going to take a picture but then I thought its just going to look like 2 white dots on a black background. Oh Bill you have to look to the south west you won't see them in the western sky.

[David Bassett]

... its just going to look like 2 white dots on a black background. ...


We got out to see the conjunction tonight. I actually dug out an old telescope to see what I could resolve. Two white dots in a black sky. Much more impressive with the naked eye, bright & twinkly.

My wife pulled up a website where they were imaging the conjunction and they resolved Jupiter & Saturn. You could see Jupiter's bands & spot and Saturn's rings. (I take a little solace from noticing their telescope is 4.3m while mine is only 0.07m. :) )

[roger wiegand]

We got lucky and the clouds cleared for about 15 minutes so we got a good look.

447696

[Tom M King]

I think they move two fast, relative to each other, for a conjunction to have been the Star of Bethelem. Even last night, in about 10 or 15 minutes, Saturn went from about 3 o'clock to Jupiter, to 1 o'clock.

Maybe in another 800 years we'll have the same luck with no clouds, but the Moon won't be out. With the Moon illuminating the sky so much, the brightness of the planets was not as apparent. It was still darker than it looks in this picture.

My phone wanted to take a 12 second exposure, so I had to rest it on top of the Farm Use car. White in the forground is the top of the car. Same point as Sunset avatar.

Sorry about upside down picture-used phone.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

iPhone held up to telescope. In person you could see the rings of Saturn and a lot more detail.
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[Frederick Skelly]

I think they move two fast, relative to each other, for a conjunction to have been the Star of Bethelem. Even last night, in about 10 or 15 minutes, Saturn went from about 3 o'clock to Jupiter, to 1 o'clock.

I read an article this morning about the various theories for the Star of Bethlehem. A conjunction seemed to be a leading one. It was pretty interesting and written in language I could understand. LINK (https://www.space.com/amp/star-of-bethlehem)

Off topic but hopefully interesting: Another good but totally fictional read related to this is a short story by Arthur Clarke, called "The Star". This story never fails to bring a tear to my eye. Wikipedia has a summary, though it doesn't do the story justice. You can download it here: DOWNLOAD LINK
(https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://sites.uni.edu/morgans/astro/course/TheStar.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjb5s6X6-HtAhUDXK0KHVcyDvQQFjANegQIBRAB&usg=AOvVaw0M79Liiwm0qlVlsYMKyzP9) It's only 4 pages long.

[Bert Kemp]

I think they move two fast, relative to each other, for a conjunction to have been the Star of Bethelem. Even last night, in about 10 or 15 minutes, Saturn went from about 3 o'clock to Jupiter, to 1 o'clock.

Maybe in another 800 years we'll have the same luck with no clouds, but the Moon won't be out. With the Moon illuminating the sky so much, the brightness of the planets was not as apparent. It was still darker than it looks in this picture.

My phone wanted to take a 12 second exposure, so I had to rest it on top of the Farm Use car. White in the forground is the top of the car. Same point as Sunset avatar.

Sorry about upside down picture-used phone............................................. ...........................................


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[Malcolm Schweizer]

Look up the movie “The Star” for a wonderful insight on the Star of Bethlehem by a guy who used modern stargazing software to “turn back the clock” and what he found is really cool. It would interest Christian and non-Christian alike.

[Tom M King]

Rotated 90 degrees right four times in Photo Gallery.

[Frederick Skelly]

Man that's pretty Tom.

[Tom M King]

Here's a Sunset I took the day before. There was an opening in the clouds, so the sunlight reflected off the clouds, down onto the water.

Photo flipped the same way in Photo Gallery edit, by rotating right four times.

[Larry Frank]

I was able to see it tonight and even the rings with binoculars.

[Frederick Skelly]

Another beauty. Wow, that's some nice place to live!

[lowell holmes]

We saw it in Dickinson Texas. I am glad to have seen it.

[finlay gray]

Yeah, I saw it too. Felt good.