The Great Conjunction of 2020: A dance between Jupiter and Saturn

Jupiter and Saturn getting ever closer

Over the last few months, Jupiter and Saturn have been inching closer and closer to each other in the night sky, and on December 21st Jupiter and Saturn will be at their closest. This is what is known as a Great Conjunction. It happens every 20 years when Jupiter and Saturn align in our night sky. What makes this year’s Great Conjuntion particularly special is the fact that Jupiter and Saturn will appear closer than they ever have since 1623, and will only be 0.1 degrees apart.

Jupiter and Saturn will be visible low in the sky to the southwest right after sunset on the 21st. Though Jupiter and Saturn will be at their closest on the 21st, there will fine viewing opportunities on the 20th and 22nd.

I have always enjoyed looking at Jupiter and Saturn through my telescope, but now they will be so close that I will be able to see both of them at the same time. I will take this rare opportunity to try and photograph Jupiter and Saturn.

Planetary photography is a hard thing to do, especially without tracking mounts, but I hope that I will getgood photos. Planetary photography is a long multi-step process, but I am going to try and simplify it for you. First I attach my camera to my telescope, using a special adapter, and after that, I find the planet(s) that I will be photographing, which in this case are Jupiter and Saturn. Once I have found the planet, I focus my camera and start taking short 2-3 minute videos. Once I am done with taking videos, I go inside to process the videos. There are a few steps in processing. First, I put the videos through a software called PIPP which aligns the planet in all the frames of the video. The next step is to then stack all the frames of the video clip in order to reach a product. Stacking is when a special software finds the average of every pixel in every frame of the video. I use a software called Registax for this. Once the stacking is done, I use editing software with Registax, and Photoshop in order to make the image clearer, more detailed, and prettier. If all the steps of the process go well, then I end up with a good end product. Though I am still new to planetary photography, I am hopeful that if it isn’t too cloudy, then I will get a good shot at taking some pictures.

I encourage all of you to try and watch the conjunction for yourselves this coming Monday because it is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity. You don’t need a telescope to enjoy it, a pair of binoculars or even your naked eye is enough to enjoy the visual double star that Jupiter and Saturn will form this coming week.

If the time and weather permits to take pictures, then I will share my pictures of the Great Conjunction in a blog post. Till then, Have a Happy Holidays!