Staff Reporter
THE two largest planets in the solar system formed a Christmas Star as they came closer together than they have since the Middle Ages.
While it’s not an actual star, the two planets will certainly make a bright splash in the night sky.
According to NASA, the evening of December 21, the summer solstice, Jupiter and Saturn will appear so closely aligned in the sky that they will look like a double planet.
This close approach is called a conjunction.
The fact that this event is happening during the solstice is pure coincidence.
The last time this phenomenon was observed was on 4 March, 1226.
In Namibia, the phenomenon will be visible from 21:30 tonight and people should look to the western horizon to see the first Christmas Star in more than 800 years.
Due to the cloud cover, however, only a privileged few will be able to observe this phenomenon in the next few minutes.
