What Is The Christmas Star?

Tonight is one special night indeed. It isn’t only the Winter Solstice in the northern hemisphere; On Dec 22nd, 2020, at approximately 6:15 AM Beijing time, or on Dec 21st, 2020, at 5:15 PM Eastern Standard Time, you can see something called the Christmas Star.

No, the Christmas Star isn’t one single star, but rather, two bright planets seemingly coming very close together from Earth in what’s called the Great Conjunction.

You might be familiar with the two planets. They are part of the gas giants in our Solar System, one named Jupiter and the other Saturn. Even though the Great Conjunction happens every 20 years or so, the two planets in question seem to be only 0.1 degrees apart this time, the closest since 1226 and will be until the year 2080, making this event very special.

“The two seem super close to each other from Earth, but through a telescope, you can see that they are, in reality, separated by space,” says Tigger in an interview yesterday. “Even though the two are closest at 6:15 AM tomorrow in Beijing, you can’t see anything in the morning, so it’s better to watch tonight.”

That has been the New News Newsminute, thank you.