SAN FRANCISCO, CA. - DEC. 21, 2020: Jupiter and Saturn appear less than one-tenth of a degree apart from each other during the Great Conjunction, Monday, Dec. 21, 2020, in the night sky above San Francisco City Hall. The planets haven't appeared this close together in nearly four centuries. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
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SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 21: Jupiter (L) and Saturn appear about one-tenth of a degree apart during an astronomical event known as a Great Conjunction on December 21, 2020 in Santa Barbara, California. The planets, which remain about 450 million miles apart in space, have not appeared this close together from Earth's vantage point since 1623, and it's been nearly 800 years since the alignment occurred at night.
Not to change the topic here:
Jupiter and Saturn will come within 0.1 degrees of each other, forming the first
Jupiter and Saturn will be so close today that they will appear to form a "double planet." Such a spectacular great conjunction , as the planetary alignment has come to be known, hasn't occurred in nearly 800 years.
When their orbits align every 20 years, Jupiter and Saturn get extremely close to one another. Jupiter orbits the sun every 12 years, while Saturn's orbit takes 30 years, so every few decades Jupiter laps Saturn, according to NASA .
The 2020 great conjunction is especially rare — the planets haven't been this close together in nearly 400 years, and haven't been observable this close together at night since medieval times, in 1226.
Astronomers Have Detected a Planet's Radio Emissions 51 Light-Years Away - ExtremeTech
Astronomers have detected thousands of exoplanets, but there’s only so much we can know about them from light-years away. A new study from Cornell University could help shed light on the conditions of exoplanets by analyzing radio emissions connected to their magnetic fields. The researchers claim this marks the first time an exoplanet has been detected in the radio bands .
This project started with the study of Jupiter, which has a hugely powerful magnetic field. Several years ago, study lead author Jake Turner conducted an analysis of Jupiter’s magnetic field. In the new study, that data becomes the basis for hunting exoplanets. The team processed the Jupiter data to simulate the radio frequency signal from a distant gas giant.
'Christmas Star': How to see the Jupiter and Saturn conjunction - CNN
(CNN) The two largest planets in our solar system are coming closer together than they have been since the Middle Ages, and it's happening just in time for Christmas -- hence the nickname of the "Christmas Star."
While you're here, how about this:
Special Christmas Star on display, planets align incredibly close - KOAM
“Planetary conjunctions happen relatively often,” says astronomer Josh Cochran. “What makes this one so special is how incredibly close Jupiter and Saturn are getting. They’re going to be — to the naked eye — they will appear as one point of light and so they will look like one bright star in the sky.”
The math that predicted this particular alignment was put together 400 years ago by some of the earlier astronomers.
Nebraska photographers' stellar pics of the Christmas star (planets aligning) | Nebraska News |
Area stargazers were out in force for Monday night's celestial event. What did you think of the sight?
Observers at Holmes Lake watch as Jupiter and Saturn come together to decorate the night sky Monday.
Robert Fugarino takes a photo of the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter on his smartphone at Holmes Lake Park, Monday, Dec. 21, 2020.
Anne Schiltz hunts for the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn through a telescope as her grandson Sawyer Schiltz, 3, looks on, Monday, Dec. 21, 2020, at Holmes Lake Park.
A Rosetta stone for planet formation - Tech Explorist
A protoplanetary disk is a disk of gas (99% by mass) and dust (1%), orbiting a newly formed star, from which planets are (hypothesized to be) formed.
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Gas is the dominant component of the disk ; hence, it is a key driver in planets’ dynamical evolution. The timescale over which the gas dissipates sets the timescale for planet formation, yet its distribution in disks is just starting to be carefully measured.
Likewise, the chemical composition of the gas determines the composition of the future planets and their atmospheres. Still, even after decades of studying protoplanetary disks, their chemical compositions are poorly constrained gas-to-dust ratios are largely unknown.
Neptune's Weird Dark Spot Just Got Weirder - The New York Times
Neptune boasts some of the strangest weather in the solar system. The sun's eighth planet holds the record for the fastest winds observed on any world, with speeds cutting through the atmosphere upward of 1,100 miles per hour, or 1.5 times the speed of sound. Scientists still don't know exactly why its atmosphere is so tumultuous. Their latest glimpse of Neptune provided even more reason to be confused.
This is not the first time Neptune's dark spots have behaved so strangely. When the Voyager 2 spacecraft flew past the planet in 1990, ( still the only spacecraft to do so ) it observed two storms. One was the original Dark Spot, a large vortex about the size of the Earth. It too had a companion, a smaller, fast moving storm nicknamed Scooter. The first observed Dark Spot also seemed to move south and then back to the north.
Happening on Twitter
There had long been rumors in Arizona's conservation community that Bald Eagles nest in saguaro cactuses, but recen… https://t.co/16CKFZ1Q14 audubonsociety (from U.S.) Mon Dec 21 11:13:02 +0000 2020
Photos from yesterday's launch and landing → https://t.co/095WHX44BX https://t.co/6ojFySuaxo SpaceX (from Hawthorne, CA) Sun Dec 20 19:50:16 +0000 2020
How about a photo toss for #12DaysofGIFmas?! Reply to this tweet for a chance to win one of our favorite SIGNED ph… https://t.co/hFx0xi1NKk Pirates (from Pittsburgh, PA) Mon Dec 21 17:44:46 +0000 2020
My favourite photos from the Jupiter and Saturn's celestial dance.. The last time this had happened, Galileo was s… https://t.co/Q3lsNyy2Tf inihelene Tue Dec 22 06:41:50 +0000 2020
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