Photo of the day: Jupiter and Saturn merge into a binary planet
A mesmerizing astronomical event took place yesterday: Jupiter and Saturn joined in the firmament to form a double planetary system. Users from all over the world are posting great photos of this phenomenon.
The two gas giants converge approximately once every 20 years. However, the merger that took place the day before is exceptional: for observers on Earth, the planets were separated by only a few arc minutes.
Similar conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn has not been observed for almost eight centuries. The last time the gas giants were so close to each other was back in the Middle Ages – on March 4, 1226.
As the Moscow Planetarium emphasizes, this time Jupiter and Saturn literally merged into one star. Numerous images published on the Internet clearly demonstrate this.
By the way, it should be noted that this rare phenomenon can be observed until the end of December. The next time the planets will be so close to each other only on March 15, 2080. Then these giants will turn into a double planet only after 2400.
