National Photos (Public)

The majority of Mauritians participated in the rare spectacular “Christmas Star” event of December 21st. We had over 1000 public engagements and our Facebook page grew exponentially from 220 (18 Dec 2020) to 700+ in likes and followers. After gazing skyward to witness and capture photos of this grand event, 7 digital certificates of appreciation were awarded from IAU NOC Mauritius.

Recipients of IAU NOC Mauritius Certificates of Participation:

  • Yashweena Takoory (Coromandel)
  • Pooja Boodhoo (Petit Bel AiR)
  • Ishfaaq Peerally (Flic-en-Flac)
  • Astrid Thelemaque (Flic-en-Flac)
  • Akish Mangaram (Tamarin)
  • Adeev Kaharee (Goodlands)
  • Fariss Baboo (Terre Rouge)

Poster Credit: Arvind Ramessur

National Photos (NOC Mauritius)

The Great Conjunction event photo for NOC Mauritius was captured by Arvind Ramessur from Long Mountain using a DLSR camera (EF 75 - 300 mm Zoom lens) at 21h15.

Dr. Henry Throop (Program Officer at NASA Headquarters) provided his expert opinion on our photo captured from Mauritius. After running some calculations for the satellites, it was found that the Jovian moon, Io, was hidden (either in front of or behind) Jupiter. What we saw were Ganymede and Callisto on top; Europa and the Hipparcos star (#HIP99134) on the bottom. We could not see Titan, which should be around the letter ’S’ of Saturn, from our photo.

Poster Credit: Arvind Ramessur

Image Credit: Dr. Henry Throop

International Photos

Christmas Star

Here is a stunning great conjunction photo to brighten spirits; the sight of the moment-in-a-life time occasion - “Christmas Star”.

Photo credit: [**larsleberphotography**](https://www.instagram.com/larsleberphotography/)

Optical & Radio Image

The Great Conjunction in radio captured by the Very Large Array, VLA at a wavelength of 2 cm (15 GHz). While Saturn is similar to optical (left), Jupiter’s radio emission (right) originates from charged particles accelerated in the magnetic fields around the planet which are being supplied by its volcanic moon, Io. This causes more emissions associated with the magnetic field compared to Saturn.

Credits: _NRAO/AUI/NSD_

For more info, click here.

Is this the only one?

On 21 December 2020, Jupiter and Saturn will appear exceptionally close as seen from Earth (separated by a mere 0.1°; i.e., just a fifth of the full moon’s size!). Conjunctions between them happen around every 20 years. But what about conjunctions between other pairs of planets?

Upcoming conjunctions to look out for:

21 Dec 2020 - Jupiter & Saturn (0.1 deg separation)

13 July 2021 - Venus & Mars (0.5 deg separation)

5 April 2022 - Mars & Saturn (0.3 deg separation)

30 April 2022 - Venus & Jupiter (0.2 deg separation)

29 May 2022 - Mars & Jupiter (0.6 deg separation).

All planets go around the Sun in their orbits which are slightly inclined to one another. This is why the separation between the two planets is a bit different for every conjunction, depending on where they are in their orbits. For example, the conjunctions during 2000, 2020, 2040, 2060, and 2080 have separations of 1.2°, 0.1°, 1.2°, 1.2°, and 0.1° respectively.

Reference: African Astronomical Society (AfAS).

Fun Facts

  1. Ancient astronomers studied the motion of planets by noting their positions every few days against the background stars. You can do the same too, at least for Venus and Mars which move quite fast.
  2. If you were standing on the Sun on the 21st of December and did not burn up, you should see the triple conjunction of Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn.
  3. The Great conjunction that will happen 5521 years from now will be so close that Jupiter will eclipse Saturn, and pass directly in front of it!
  4. Sometimes, the Moon and Sun are in conjunction too. We call these events, lunar and solar eclipses.
  5. The 21 Dec 2020 great conjunction will be so close that you can see both planets in the same field of view in a small telescope.
  6. Syzygy (pronunciation: “SIZ-eh-gee” is the name for the nearly straight-line configuration of three celestial bodies (e.g., Sun, Moon, and Earth during a solar and lunar eclipse) in a gradational system.

Publications: mopay.com and Astronomers Without Borders.

Project Leader: Arvind Ramessur