A Conjunction happens when two or more planets align, and in our perspective here on Earth, they appear next to each other in the same horizon. In my experience as an Amateur Astronomer, conjunctions occur quite often. Almost every year, I see planets appear to pass each other in the night sky whenever I look up. I myself admit that I don’t look up very often. This is due to the fact that I have a job and a family to spend time with. But on average, I see about one or two conjunctions in a year.
But this time, this conjunction is different from the common ones. Because this time, the two gas giants – Jupiter and Saturn, will appear closest to each other in 800 years! They will appear very close to each other that they will seem to intersect or to almost collide when viewed from the Earth. This rare type of conjunction is called as ”the Great Conjunction” and it only occurs once in every 800 years.
Thinking about the great conjunction and its rarity, I could not help but compare and discern the difference between our timescale and astronomical timescale. 800 years ago, Genghis Khan was just about to conquer Europe; and the Philippines was not yet colonized by Spain. 800 years ago, even our great-great grandparents were not yet born. It is bizarre yet amazing to think that the last time this great conjunction happened, the people who witnessed it were barbarians and uncivilized. I bet that they didn’t even know what it was.
Time has changed since then and a lot of things happened in our history. But in astronomical timescale? Not that much. 800 years may be long for us, but in astronomical timescale it is just a mere blink of an eye. It makes me realize how lucky I am to be alive at this point in time. Because the next time that this great conjunction occurs, I will have been long dead.
Photo Credits: NASA via Starry Night
