Jupiter and Saturn Great Conjunction: The Movie

Explanation: Yes, but have you seen a movie of Jupiter and Saturn's Great Conjunction? The featured time-lapse video was composed from a series of images taken from Thailand and shows the two giant planets as they angularly passed about a tenth of a degree from each other. The first Great Conjunction sequence shows a relative close up over five days with moons and cloud bands easily visible, followed by a second video sequence, zoomed out, over 9 days. Even though Jupiter and Saturn appeared to pass unusually close together on the sky on December 21, 2020 , in actuality they were still nearly a billion kilometers apart. The two gas giants are destined for similar meet ups every 19.86 years . However, they had not come this close , angularly, for the past 397 years , and will not again for another 60 years . If you're willing to wait until the year 7541 , though, you can see Jupiter pass directly in front of Saturn.

Gallery: Notable images of the Great Conjunction submitted to APOD