¿ Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2020 December 23 [2]See Explanation. Moving the cursor over the image will bring up an annotated version. Clicking on the image will bring up the highest resolution version available. Jupiter Meets Saturn: A Red Spotted Great Conjunction Image Credit & Copyright: [3]Damian Peach Explanation: It was time for their [4]close-up. Two days ago [5]Jupiter and [6]Saturn passed a tenth of [7]a degree from each other in what is known a [8]Great Conjunction. Although the [9]two planets pass each other on the sky every 20 years, this was the closest pass in nearly four centuries. Taken early in day of the [10]Great Conjunction, the [11]featured multiple-exposure combination captures not only both giant planets in a single frame, but also Jupiter's four largest moons (left to right) [12]Callisto, [13]Ganymede, [14]Io, and [15]Europa -- and Saturn's largest moon [16]Titan. If you look very closely, the clear [17]Chilescope image even captures Jupiter's [18]Great Red Spot. The now-separating planets can still be seen [19]remarkably close -- within about a degree -- as they set just after the [20]Sun, toward the west, [21]each night for the remainder of the year. Gallery: [22]Notable images of the Great Conjunction submitted to APOD Tomorrow's picture: open space __________________________________________________________________ [23]< | [24]Archive | [25]Submissions | [26]Index | [27]Search | [28]Calendar | [29]RSS | [30]Education | [31]About APOD | [32]Discuss | [33]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [34]Robert Nemiroff ([35]MTU) & [36]Jerry Bonnell ([37]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [38]Specific rights apply. [39]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [40]ASD at [41]NASA / [42]GSFC & [43]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2012/GreatConjunction_Peach_2042.jpg 3. https://twitter.com/peachastro 4. https://www.shmoop.com/quotes/ready-for-my-close-up-mr-demille.html 5. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/jupiter/overview/ 6. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/saturn/overview/ 7. https://www.mathsisfun.com/geometry/degrees.html 8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_conjunction 9. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/the-great-conjunction-of-jupiter-and-saturn 10. https://www.npr.org/2020/12/22/949118147/photos-great-conjunction-dazzles-stargazers-around-the-world 11. http://www.damianpeach.com/jup2020/dec21st_conjunction_dp.jpg 12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap950906.html 13. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/moons/jupiter-moons/ganymede/in-depth/ 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110522.html 15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_(moon) 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190703.html 17. http://www.chilescope.com/about/chilescope/ 18. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/jupiter-s-great-red-spot-a-swirling-mystery 19. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_conjunction#/media/File:Jupiter_saturn_separation_2020_Dec.png 20. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/sun/overview/ 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201215.html 22. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=APOD.Sky&set=a.3211133262324204 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201222.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 27. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 32. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=201223 33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201224.html 34. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 35. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 36. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 37. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 38. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 39. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 40. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 41. https://www.nasa.gov/ 42. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 43. http://www.mtu.edu/