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66-400: A great conjunction is a conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn , when the two planets appear closest together in the sky. Great conjunctions occur approximately every 20 years when Jupiter "overtakes" Saturn in its orbit . They are named "great" for being by far the rarest of the conjunctions between naked-eye planets (i.e. excluding Uranus and Neptune ). The spacing between

132-452: A conjunction between Mars and Jupiter took place, whereby Mars passed Jupiter 1.8 degrees southward. Only two degrees away from Jupiter Kepler's Supernova appeared on the same day. This was perhaps the only time in recorded history a supernova took place near a conjunction of two planets. In early December 1899 the Sun and the naked-eye planets appeared to lie within a band 35 degrees wide along

198-525: A conjunction in ecliptic longitude), the one that is closer to the Earth will pass in front of the other. In such a case, a syzygy takes place. If one object moves into the shadow of another, the event is an eclipse . For example, if the Moon passes into the shadow of Earth and disappears from view, this event is called a lunar eclipse . If the visible disk of the nearer object is considerably smaller than that of

264-468: A degree apart. The conjunction had been nicknamed the "Star of Bethlehem." On the morning of January 9, Venus and Saturn came together in a conjunction On August 27, Mercury and Venus were in conjunction, followed by a conjunction of Venus and Jupiter , meaning that the three planets were very close together in the evening sky. On the morning of November 13, Venus and Jupiter were in conjunction, meaning that they appeared close together in

330-504: A longitude span of less than 7°. On average, great conjunction seasons occur once every 19.859 Julian years (each of which is 365.25 days). This number can be calculated by the synodic period formula in which J and S are the orbital periods of Jupiter (4332.59 days) and Saturn (10759.22 days), respectively. This is about 52 days less than 20 years, but in practice, Earth's orbit size can cause great conjunctions to reoccur anytime between 18 years 10 months and 20 years 8 months after

396-478: A member of a triple conjunction . In a triple conjunction, the series does not advance by one each event as the constellation and year is the same or close to it, this is the only time great conjunctions can be less than about 20 years apart. When studying the great conjunction of 1603, Johannes Kepler thought that the Star of Bethlehem might have been the occurrence of a great conjunction. He calculated that

462-416: A new cycle after all fours trigons had been visited. Medieval astrologers usually gave 960 years as the duration of the full cycle, perhaps because in some cases it took 240 years to pass from one trigon to the next. If a cycle is defined by when the conjunctions return to the same right ascension rather than to the same constellation, then because of axial precession the cycle is less than 800 years. Use of

528-541: A triple conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn occurred in 7 BC (−6 using astronomical year numbering ); The astronomers from the Cracow Academy ( Jan Muscenius , Stanisław Jakobejusz, Nicolaus Schadeck, Petrus Probosczowicze, and others) observed the great conjunction of 1563 to compare Alfonsine tables (based on a geocentric model ) with the Prutenic Tables (based on Copernican heliocentrism ). In

594-472: Is superior , if an inferior planet is on the opposite side of the Sun, it is in superior conjunction with the Sun. An inferior conjunction occurs when the two planets lie in a line on the same side of the Sun . In an inferior conjunction, the superior planet is "in opposition " to the Sun as seen from the inferior planet. The terms "inferior conjunction" and "superior conjunction" are used in particular for

660-402: Is an event that involves two astronomical bodies seen by an observer on the Earth. Times and details depend only very slightly on the observer's location on the Earth's surface, with the differences being greatest for conjunctions involving the Moon because of its relative closeness, but even for the Moon the time of a conjunction never differs by more than a few hours. As seen from a planet that

726-457: Is called conjunction in right ascension. However, there is also the term conjunction in ecliptic longitude. At such conjunction both objects have the same ecliptic longitude. Conjunction in right ascension and conjunction in ecliptic longitude do not normally take place at the same time, but in most cases nearly at the same time. However, at triple conjunctions , it is possible that a conjunction only in right ascension (or ecliptic length) occurs. At

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792-442: Is equal to 1.674 Jupiter orbits and 0.674 Saturn orbits, three of these periods come close to a whole number of revolutions. As successive great conjunctions occur nearly 120° apart, their appearances form a triangular pattern. In a series, every third conjunction returns after some 60 years to the vicinity of the first. These returns are observed to be shifted by some 8° relative to the fixed stars, so no more than four of them occur in

858-404: Is reckoned as occurring at the time the distance in right ascension between the two planets is smallest, even though, when declination is taken into account, they may appear closer together shortly before or after this. The interval between two conjunctions involving the same two planets is not constant, but the average interval between two similar conjunctions can be calculated from the periods of

924-613: Is roughly analogous to the Saros series for solar eclipses (which are Sun–Moon conjunctions). Conjunctions in a particular series occur about 119.16 years apart. The reason it is every six conjunctions instead of every three is that 119.16 years is closer to a whole number of years than ⁠ 119.16 / 2 ⁠ = 59.58 is, so Earth will be closer to the same position in its orbit and conjunctions will appear more similar. All series will have progressions where conjunctions gradually shift from only visible before sunrise to visible throughout

990-543: Is the minimum apparent separation in the sky of two astronomical objects. Conjunctions involve either two objects in the Solar System or one object in the Solar System and a more distant object, such as a star . A conjunction is an apparent phenomenon caused by the observer's perspective : the two objects involved are not actually close to one another in space . Conjunctions between two bright objects close to

1056-543: Is traced back in Europe to translations of Arabic texts, especially Albumasar 's book on conjunctions. Clusterings of several planets were considered even more significant. The Chinese apparently remembered the clustering of all five planets in 1953 BC, and noted the clustering of all but Venus in 1576 BC and of all five in 1059 BC. These were connected in Chinese thought to the founding of the first three historical dynasties,

1122-460: The Alphonsine tables apparently led to the use of precessing signs, and Kepler gave a value of 794 years (40 conjunctions). Despite mathematical errors and some disagreement among astrologers about when trigons began, belief in the significance of such events generated a stream of publications that grew steadily until the end of the 16th century. As the great conjunction of 1583 was last in

1188-457: The Prutenic Tables the astronomers found Jupiter and Saturn so close to each other that Jupiter covered Saturn (actual angular separation was 6.8 minutes on 25 August 1563). The Alfonsine tables suggested that the conjunction should be observed on another day but on the day indicated by the Alfonsine tables the angular separation was a full 141 minutes. The Cracow professors suggested following

1254-741: The Xia dynasty , the Shang dynasty , and the Zhou dynasty . The intervals involved, of 377.8 years (19 great conjunction intervals) and 516.4 years (26 great conjunction intervals) bring Mars back to approximately the same position. Further repeats of the 516-year period lead to the clustering in AD 1524, considered ominous in Europe at the time of the Radical Reformation , and the upcoming clustering of September 2040, which will involve all five planets again, in

1320-528: The meridian of the equinox point both extended upwards indefinitely; ecliptic separations are usually smaller. Distance is the angular separation between the planets in sixtieths of a degree ( minutes of arc ) and elongation is the angular distance from the Sun in degrees. An elongation between around −20 and +20 degrees indicates that the Sun is close enough to the conjunction to make it difficult or impossible to see, sometimes more difficult at some geographic latitudes and less difficult elsewhere. Note that

1386-417: The 2020 great conjunction, the two planets were separated in the sky by 6 arcminutes at their closest point, which was the closest distance between the two planets since 1623. The closeness is the result of the conjunction occurring in the vicinity of one of the two longitudes where the two orbits appear to intersect when viewed from the Sun (which has a point of view similar to Earth). Because 19.859 years

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1452-575: The Moon and, in turn, Mars, Saturn, the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Jupiter. Mercury also reached inferior conjunction with the Sun. The conjunction between the Moon and the Sun at new Moon produced a total solar eclipse visible in Indonesia and the Pacific Ocean, when these five naked-eye planets were visible in the vicinity of the Sun in the sky. Mercury , Venus and Mars separately reached conjunction with each other, and each separately with

1518-450: The Sun in the period 8–10 May. These three planets in turn were in conjunction with each other and with Venus over a period of a few weeks. However, most of these conjunctions were not visible from the Earth because of the glare from the Sun. NASA referred to May 5 as the date of the conjunction. Venus, Mars and Saturn appeared close together in the evening sky in early May 2002, with a conjunction of Mars and Saturn occurring on 4 May. This

1584-449: The Sun, causing the Sun to disappear either entirely or partially. This phenomenon is commonly known as a solar eclipse . Occultations in which the larger body is neither the Sun nor the Moon are very rare. More frequent, however, is an occultation of a planet by the Moon . Several such events are visible every year from various places on Earth. A conjunction, as a phenomenon of perspective,

1650-496: The Sun, within a 7-day period in August 1987 as seen from the Earth. The Moon also reached conjunction with each of these bodies on 24 August. However, none of these conjunctions were observable due to the glare of the Sun. In May 2000, in a very rare event, several planets lay in the vicinity of the Sun in the sky as seen from the Earth, and a series of conjunctions took place. Jupiter, Mercury and Saturn each reached conjunction with

1716-474: The average interval between, say, the first conjunction of one set and the first of the next set will be equal to the average interval between its oppositions with the Sun. Conjunctions between Mercury and Mars are usually triple, and those between Mercury and planets beyond Mars may also be. Conjunctions between Venus and the planets beyond Earth may be single or triple. As for conjunctions between Mercury and Venus, each time Venus goes from maximum elongation to

1782-402: The closest approach, both planets appeared to be a binary object to the naked eye. From mid-northern latitudes, the planets were visible one hour after sunset at less than 15° in altitude above the southwestern horizon in the constellation of Capricornus . The conjunction attracted considerable media attention, with news sources calling it the "Christmas Star" due to the proximity of the date of

1848-404: The conjunction to Christmas , and for a great conjunction being one of the hypothesized explanations for the biblical Star of Bethlehem . As well as being a triple conjunction, the great conjunction of 7541 is expected to feature two occultations : one partial on 16 February, and one total on 17 June. Superimposition requires a separation of less than approximately 0.4 arcminutes. This will be

1914-637: The conjunctions in right ascension (the dates for conjunctions in ecliptic longitude can differ by several days). Dates before 1582 are in the Julian calendar while dates after 1582 are in the Gregorian calendar . Longitude is measured counterclockwise from the location of the First Point of Aries (the location of the March equinox) at epoch J2000 . This non-rotating coordinate system doesn't move with

1980-403: The crescent Moon . An occultation of Venus by the Moon was visible from some locations. The three objects appeared close together in the sky from any location on the Earth. At the end of May, Mercury , Venus and Jupiter went through a series of conjunctions only a few days apart. June 30 – Venus and Jupiter come close together in a planetary conjunction; they came approximately 1/3

2046-454: The difference between the two inclinations. Indeed, between year 1 and 3000, the maximum conjunction distances were 1.3 degrees in 1306 and 1940. Conjunctions in both years occurred when the planets were tilted most out of the plane: longitude 206 degrees (therefore above the plane) in 1306, and longitude 39 degrees (therefore below the plane) in 1940. The following table details great conjunctions in between 1200 and 2400. The dates are given for

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2112-476: The east of the Sun to maximum elongation west of the Sun and then back to east of the Sun (a so-called synodic cycle of Venus), an even number of conjunctions with Mercury take place. There are usually four, but sometimes just two, and sometimes six, as in the cycle mentioned above with a quintuple conjunction as Venus moves eastward, preceded by a singlet on August 6, 2047, as Venus moves westward. The average interval between corresponding conjunctions (for example

2178-489: The ecliptic as seen from the Earth. As a consequence, over the period 1–4 December 1899, the Moon reached conjunction with, in order, Jupiter, Uranus, the Sun, Mercury, Mars, Saturn and Venus. Most of these conjunctions were not visible because of the glare of the Sun. Over the period 4–6 February 1962, in a rare series of events, Mercury and Venus reached conjunction as observed from the Earth, followed by Venus and Jupiter, then by Mars and Saturn. Conjunctions took place between

2244-417: The ecliptic, such as two bright planets, can be seen with the naked eye . The astronomical symbol for conjunction is [REDACTED] ( Unicode U+260C ☌). The conjunction symbol is not used in modern astronomy. It continues to be used in astrology . More generally, in the particular case of two planets , it means that they merely have the same right ascension (and hence the same hour angle ). This

2310-438: The exact moment of conjunction cannot be seen everywhere as it is below the horizon or it is daytime in some places, but a place on Earth affects minimum separation less than it would if an inner planet was involved. Negative elongations indicate the planet is west of the Sun (visible in the morning sky), whereas positive elongations indicate the planet is east of the Sun (visible in the evening sky). The great conjunction series

2376-408: The farther object, the event is called a transit . When Mercury passes in front of the Sun, it is a transit of Mercury , and when Venus passes in front of the Sun, it is a transit of Venus . When the nearer object appears larger than the farther one, it will completely obscure its smaller companion; this is called an occultation . An example of an occultation is when the Moon passes between Earth and

2442-609: The first conjunction on May 26, 929, Mars, whose brightness was −1.8 mag, stood 3.1 degrees south of Jupiter with a brightness of −2.6 mag. The second conjunction took place on July 4, 929, whereby Mars stood 5.7 degrees south of Jupiter. Both planets were −2.8 mag bright. On August 18, 929, the −1.9 mag bright Mars stood 4.7 degrees south of Jupiter, which was −2.6 mag bright. The second conjunction might have been from all conjunctions between outer planets since Birth of Christ that at which both planets had greatest brightness. At all other conjunctions between outer planets at least one planet

2508-428: The first occultation between the two planets since 6857 BC, and the only instance of two occultations within the same year in maybe a million years. Conjunction (astronomy) When two objects always appear close to the ecliptic —such as two planets , the Moon and a planet, or the Sun and a planet—this fact implies an apparent close approach between the objects as seen in the sky. A related word, appulse ,

2574-399: The first of one set and the first of the next) is 1.599 years (583.9 days), based on the orbital speeds of Venus and Earth, but arbitrary conjunctions occur at least twice this often. The synodic cycle of Venus (1.599 years) is close to five times as long as that of Mercury (0.317 years). When they are in phase and move between the Sun and the Earth at the same time they remain close together in

2640-493: The former planet will resume its forward motion and thereafter appear to draw away from it again. This will occur in the morning sky, before dawn. The reverse may happen in the evening sky after dusk, with Mercury or Venus entering retrograde motion just as it is about to overtake another planet (often Mercury and Venus are both of the planets involved, and when this situation arises they may remain in very close visual proximity for several days or even longer). The quasiconjunction

2706-404: The heliocentric conjunction, when Jupiter and Saturn shared the same heliocentric longitude. The closest separation occurred on 21 December at 18:20 UTC, when Jupiter was 0.1° south of Saturn and 30° east of the Sun. This meant both planets appeared together in the field of view of most small- and medium-sized telescopes (though they were distinguishable from each other without optical aid). During

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2772-462: The intervals between the individual conjunctions of a triple conjunction . Conjunctions between a planet inside the orbit of Earth (Venus or Mercury) and a planet outside are a bit more complicated. As the outer planet swings around from being in opposition to the Sun to being east of the Sun, then in superior conjunction with the Sun, then west of the Sun, and back to opposition, it will be in conjunction with Venus or Mercury an odd number of times. So

2838-469: The longitudes of close great conjunctions are about 307.4 and 127.4 degrees, in Capricornus and Cancer respectively. In astrology, one of the four elements was ascribed to each triangular pattern. Particular importance was accorded to the occurrence of a great conjunction in a new trigon, which is bound to happen after some 240 years at most. Even greater importance was attributed to the beginning of

2904-424: The lowest angular distance to Sirius in the 21st century, but also since its discovery in 1802. In the 19th century the greatest approach of Pallas and Sirius took place on October 11, 1879, when 8.6 mag bright Pallas passed Sirius 1.3° southwest and in the 20th century the lowest distance between Pallas and Sirius was reached on October 12, 1962, when Pallas, whose brightness was also 8.6 mag, stood 1.4° southwest of

2970-530: The more accurate Copernican predictions and between 1578 and 1580 Copernican heliocentrism was lectured on three times by Valentin Fontani. This conjunction was also observed by Tycho Brahe , who noticed that the Copernican and Ptolemaic tables used to predict the conjunction were inaccurate. This led him to realise that progress in astronomy required systematic, rigorous observation, night after night, using

3036-483: The morning sky. On the early hours of January 7, Mars and Jupiter were in conjunction. The pair was only 0.25 degrees apart in the sky at its closest. During most of February, March, and April, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn were close to each other, and so they underwent a series of conjunctions: on March 20, Mars was in conjunction with Jupiter, and on March 31, Mars was in conjunction with Saturn. On December 21, Jupiter and Saturn appeared at their closest separation in

3102-452: The most accurate instruments obtainable. The great conjunction of 2020 was the closest since 1623 and eighth closest of the first three millennia AD, with a minimum separation between the two planets of 6.1 arcminutes . This great conjunction was also the most easily visible close conjunction since 1226 (as the previous close conjunctions in 1563 and 1623 were closer to the Sun and therefore more difficult to see). It occurred seven weeks after

3168-647: The night to only visible after sunset and finally back to the morning sky again. The location in the sky of each conjunction in a series should increase in longitude by 16.3 degrees on average, making one full cycle relative to the stars on average once every 2,634 years. If instead we use the convention of measuring longitude eastward from the First Point of Aries, we have to keep in mind that the equinox circulates once every c. 25,772 years , so longitudes measured that way increase slightly faster and those numbers become 17.95 degrees and 2,390 years. A conjunction can be

3234-419: The past as omens. During the late Middle Ages and Renaissance they were a topic broached by the pre-scientific and transitional astronomer-astrologers of the period up to the time of Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler , by scholastic thinkers such as Roger Bacon and Pierre d'Ailly , and they are mentioned in popular and literary works by authors such as Dante Lope de Vega and Shakespeare . This interest

3300-538: The period of Neptune. On February 27, 1953, BC, Mercury, Venus, Mars and Saturn formed a group with an angular diameter of 26.45 arc minutes. Jupiter was on the same day only a few degrees away, so that on this day all 5 bright planets could be found in an area measuring only 4.33 degrees. David Pankenier and David Nivison have suggested that this conjunction occurred at the beginning of the Xia dynasty in China. A triple conjunction between Mars and Jupiter occurred. At

3366-545: The planets Mercury and Venus , which are inferior planets as seen from Earth. However, this definition can be applied to any pair of planets, as seen from the one farther from the Sun. A planet (or asteroid or comet ) is simply said to be in conjunction, when it is in conjunction with the Sun , as seen from Earth. The Moon is in conjunction with the Sun at New Moon . Conjunctions between two planets can be single, triple , or even quintuple. Quintuple conjunctions involve Mercury, because it moves rapidly east and west of

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3432-451: The planets varies from conjunction to conjunction with most events being 0.5 to 1.3 degrees (30 to 78 arcminutes , or 1 to 2.5 times the width of a full moon ). Very close conjunctions happen much less frequently (though the maximum of 1.3° is still close by inner planet standards): separations of less than 10 arcminutes have only happened four times since 1200, most recently in 2020. Great conjunctions attracted considerable attention in

3498-457: The planets. The "speed" at which a planet goes around the Sun, in terms of revolutions per time, is given by the inverse of its period, and the speed difference between two planets is the difference between these. For conjunctions of two planets beyond the orbit of Earth, the average time interval between two conjunctions is the time it takes for 360° to be covered by that speed difference, so the average interval is: This does not apply of course to

3564-401: The precession of Earth's axes , thus being suited for calculations of the locations of stars. (In astrometry latitude and longitude are based on the ecliptic which is Earth's orbit extended sunward and anti-sunward indefinitely.) The other common conjunction coordinate system is measured counterclockwise in right ascension from the First Point of Aries and is based on Earth's equator and

3630-428: The previous one. (See table below.) Since the equivalent periods of other naked-eye planet pairs are all under 900 days, this makes great conjunctions the rarest. Occasionally there is more than one great conjunction in a season, which happens whenever they're close enough to opposition : this is called a triple conjunction (which is not exclusive to great conjunctions). In this scenario, Jupiter and Saturn will occupy

3696-428: The same right ascension on three occasions or same ecliptic longitude on three occasions, depending on which definition of "conjunction" one uses (this is due to apparent retrograde motion and happens within months). The most recent triple conjunction occurred in 1980–81 and the next will be in 2238–39. The most recent great conjunction occurred on 21 December 2020, and the next will occur on 4 November 2040. During

3762-518: The same zodiacal constellation. Usually the conjunctions occur in one of the following triplicities or trigons of zodiacal constellations: After about 220 years the pattern shifts to the next trigon, and in about 800 or 900 years returns to the first trigon. The three points of the triangle revolve in the same direction as the planets at the rate of approximately one-sixth of a revolution per four centuries, thus creating especially close conjunctions on an approximately four-century cycle. Currently

3828-406: The sky for weeks. The following table gives these average intervals, between corresponding conjunctions, in Julian years of 365.25 days, for combinations of the nine traditional planets. Conjunctions with the Sun are also included. Since Pluto is in resonance with Neptune the period used is 1.5 times that of Neptune, slightly different from the current value. The interval is then exactly thrice

3894-401: The sky since 1623, in an event known as a great conjunction . Planetoid Pallas passed Sirius , the brightest star in the night sky, on October 9 to the south at a distance of 8.5 arcminutes (source: Astrolutz 2022, ISBN 978-3-7534-7124-2). As Sirius is far south of the ecliptic only few objects of the solar system can be seen from earth close to Sirius. At this occasion Pallas had not only

3960-491: The sun, in a synodic cycle just 116 days in length. An example will occur in 2048, when Venus, moving eastward behind the Sun, encounters Mercury five times (February 16, March 16, May 27, August 13, and September 5). There is also a so-called quasiconjunction, when a planet in retrograde motion  — always either Mercury or Venus , from the point of view of the Earth  — will "drop back" in right ascension until it almost allows another planet to overtake it, but then

4026-425: The time of conjunction – it does not matter if in right ascension or in ecliptic longitude – the involved planets are close together upon the celestial sphere . In the vast majority of such cases, one of the planets will appear to pass north or south of the other. However, if two celestial bodies attain the same declination at the time of a conjunction in right ascension (or the same ecliptic latitude at

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4092-450: The time of the full Moon and at the time when Mars was at opposition to the Sun. Mars and the full Moon appeared close together in the sky worldwide, with an occultation of Mars occurring for observers in some far northern locations. A similar conjunction took place on 21 May 2016 and on 8 December 2022. A conjunction of Venus and Jupiter occurred on 1 December 2008, and several hours later both planets separately reached conjunction with

4158-400: The water trigon it was widely supposed to herald apocalyptic changes; a papal bull against divination was issued in 1586 but as nothing significant happened by the feared event of 1603, public interest rapidly died. By the start of the next trigon, modern scientific consensus had condemned astrology as pseudoscience, and astronomers no longer perceived planetary alignments as omens. However, in

4224-507: The year 1962, when all five planets formed a cluster 17° wide, there was considerable concern. Saturn's orbit plane is inclined 2.485 degrees relative to Earth's, and Jupiter's is inclined 1.303 degrees. The ascending nodes of both planets are similar (100.6 degrees for Jupiter and 113.7 degrees for Saturn), meaning if Saturn is above or below Earth's orbital plane Jupiter usually is too. Because these nodes align so well it would be expected that no closest approach will ever be much worse than

4290-574: Was dimmer. Between December 22, 1503, and December 27, 1503, all three bright outer planets Mars, Jupiter and Saturn reached their opposition to sun and stood therefore close together at the nocturnal sky. During the opposition period 1503 Mars stood 3 times in conjunction with Jupiter (October 5, 1503, January 19, 1504, and February 8, 1504) and 3 times in conjunction with Saturn (October 14, 1503, December 26, 1503, and March 7, 1504). Jupiter and Saturn stood on May 24, 1504, in close conjunction with an angular separation of 19 arcminutes. On October 9, 1604,

4356-440: Was followed by a conjunction of Venus and Saturn on 7 May, and another of Venus and Mars on 10 May when their angular separation was only 18 arcminutes. A series of conjunctions between the Moon and, in order, Saturn, Mars and Venus took place on 14 May, although it was not possible to observe all these in darkness from any single location on the Earth. A conjunction of the Moon and Mars took place on 24 December 2007, very close to

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