Deseret News
Stargazers from around the world captured magnificent photos of the rare cosmic event.
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Saturn, right, and Jupiter, with several of its moons, are pictured from the West Desert during the “Great Conjunction” on Monday, Dec. 21, 2020. Also dubbed the Christmas Star, the conjunction is the closest together the two planets have passed in Earth’s sky in nearly 400 years.
Spenser Heaps, Deseret News
On the night of the winter solstice, a rare cosmic event known as a planetary conjunction took place as two of our solar system’s biggest planets passed by one another.
During the conjunction, also referred to as the “Christmas Star,” Jupiter and Saturn appeared to unite for a few brief moments and shine as one bright double planet, while in reality the two planets were more than 400 million miles apart.