2020 has already had its share of life-changing events, from a worldwide pandemic to inspiring activism, but the stars are just getting started. On December 21, an unusual alignment between Jupiter and Saturn, known as a Great Conjunction, is expected to cause political, social, and personal upheaval. It only happens once every 20 years, so whatever happens now will have long-term consequences.
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What is the astrology for December 21st?
The “Great Conjunction” occurs when Jupiter and Saturn, our solar system’s two largest planets, collide. What makes it even more unique is that it occurs on the night of the winter solstice.
In the night sky above, our two largest worlds will appear closer than they have in centuries, as if they are touching. It’s similar to a two-planet system. It may look to some like a very bright “Christmas Star.” How appropriate for the season!
In the astrological world, it’s already creating waves. After all, a meeting of Jupiter and Saturn has long been considered the most favorable of all planetary conjunctures, and the only one known as a “Great Conjunction.” There was good reason for the fuss: this is the rarest of all the five bright planets to collide. It only happens once every two decades, and the closest Jupiter-Saturn conjunction since 1623, when Galileo was alive, will occur in 2020.
Jupiter-Saturn encounters were thought to produce a variety of earthly repercussions, none of which were positive. One well-known result was that presidents were said to be in danger of losing their lives if they were elected or in power when these planets collided, and there are plenty of astrological tables on the Internet to back up this claim.
However, as this is an astronomy article rather than an astrology page, we’ll concentrate on how to interpret the event and how it compares to previous and future Great Conjunctions.
What Is a Conjunction?
Simply said, a conjunction happens when planets or other objects on our sky’s dome appear to be very close to each other. These “meetings or conjunctions in the sky” occur frequently, particularly when the Moon passes between the planets in the sky.
A conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, on the other hand, is extremely unusual, occurring only once every 20 years. The closest grand conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in 397 years will occur on December 21, 2020. The two gigantic planets will appear to be only 0.1 degrees apart from our perspective. That’s less than a fifth of a full Moon’s diameter. This conjunction is also not overshadowed by the Sun’s glare, unlike earlier ones.
Past and Future Conjunctions
It’s critical to get the details right, because the event’s once-in-a-20-year occurrence may make it appear more common than it is. The planets, for example, were never as close together as they will be this month during the last Great Conjunction in May 2000, yet they were also closer to the Sun and partially obscured by solar glare. It wasn’t particularly appealing.
Similarly, in December of 1980, the same was true. To recall a Great Conjunction that even came close to competing with the one this month, you’d have to go back to February of 1961. Even yet, it paled in comparison to the Great Conjunction of 2020.
We won’t get another chance anytime soon, either, if we look ahead. The one in October 2040, with the planets quite widely separated, will not be particularly good, and the same will be true in October 2060.
You’ll only see another Great Conjunction as good as this one if you can wait until March 15, 2080. Actually, that one will be much better, because the two massive planets will appear to combine into a single dazzling star or uncommon double planet low in the eastern sky before sunrise. Some are claiming that our current Great Conjunction is one of these.
A Single “Star on December 21
What is the truth? If you haven’t seen an optometrist in a while, you might mistake the two planets for a single dazzling object. Those with normal vision, on the other hand, should view them as separate “stars,” with Jupiter shining brightly and Saturn shining brightly.
That’s okay, because there’s more good news: Unlike most such conjunctions, the duo will be sufficiently removed from the sun’s brightness and high enough in the sky that it will not be a concern. Yes, a half-hour after sunset on December 21, they’ll be low in the southwest. They will not, however, be super-low15 above the horizon.
Even so, if you have trees, neighbors’ houses, or hills in the way of sunset, you should examine the planets a few evenings beforehand at the same time to make sure they’ll be clear on the solstitial evening. If they’re blocked, take a stroll or drive to an open area such as a field, cemetery, or lakeside.
A One-Night Affair
Regrettably, this will only be a one-night event. The planets will be substantially farther away the day before and the day following, and not nearly as impressive. So, if the weather holds out on the 21st, you’ll want to make the most of the show. Binoculars will be a useful addition, allowing you to see Jupiter’s four massive satellites in a straight line. Saturn will be moving in a different direction than the moons, perpendicular to them.
You’ll be absolutely amazed if you have a tiny backyard telescope, or if you can join a friend who has one, or if you can contact your local astronomy club to have a view through a telescope. Because our solar system’s two largest planets will be seen in the same medium-power telescope area! That is a breathtaking sight that no one living has ever witnessed.
But keep in mind that this isn’t a life-threatening situation. They appear to be close, yet Saturn is actually twice as far away from Jupiter, and the two enormous worlds are actually thousands of miles apart.
How to View the Great Conjunction
To recap, on December 21, the day of the solstice, Jupiter and Saturn will make their Great Conjunction lowish in the southwest.
Start viewing a few days ahead of time if you want. Look for the crescent Moon in the southwest sky on December 16 shortly after sunset. The two brilliant planets are directly above the Moon. It’s impossible to miss.
Because the planets will be low in the sky on December 21, the day of the conjunction, make sure you have a clear view of the southwestern horizon near sunset.
The Sun will have just set in the year’s most leftward position on your horizon, and your finest planet view will begin around half an hour after your local sunset.
When Jupiter and Saturn align, what occurs astrologically?
On Monday, Jupiter and Saturnwill appear to come together in the night sky, making a “Great Conjunction,” despite the fact that they are more than 400 million miles apart. Jupiter’s orbit of less than 12 years around the sun coincides with Saturn’s orbit of 29.5 years, resulting in a sequence of encounters between the planets every 20 years. The planets will appear to touch or form a single dazzling heavenly body on the night of the conjunction, separated by about one fifth of the diameter of a typical full moon. Aside from its visual appeal, this event has astrological significance: it marks the official transition from a 200-year period of Jupiter and Saturn conjunctions primarily in Earth signs to a 200-year period of conjunctions in Air signs, signaling the start of a new epoch in a larger 800-year macro-cycle.
What is the 2021 Great Conjunction?
There’s about to be another triple conjunction, despite the fact that they don’t happen very often. From Earth’s perspective, Jupiter and Saturn are making their annual voyage behind the sun, whereas Mercury zips around the sun four times per Earth year. Mercury will move into our morning sky when Jupiter and Saturn do, resulting in another triple conjunction before sunrise on Feb. 13, 2021.
The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year. Is it also the coldest?
The winter solstice is the year’s shortest day, which means it’s the day with the least amount of daylight. It would seem logical to conclude that this is also the coldest day of the year, given that we are exposed to less warmth-giving sunlight on this day than at any other time of the year. However, this is not the case.
Altitude, snow cover, and large-scale weather patterns are all elements that influence the temperature of an area on any given day. For example, snow cover partially stops solar energy from being received by the Earth, resulting in less heat being emitted and a drop in temperature overall. Because of these considerations, it’s impossible to declare the same date as the coldest day year after year.
The coldest days of the year in the United States normally fall between mid-December and late January, so while it’s possible that the day of the winter solstice is also the coldest day of the year, that’s not frequently the case!
Is the Winter Solstice really the start of winter?
The answer to this question isn’t black-and-white; it depends on whatever definition of “winter” you use:
- The winter solstice marks the start of astronomical winter, which lasts until the spring equinox. The position of the Earth in reference to the Sun determines the astronomical seasons.
- The Northern Hemisphere’s meteorological winter begins on December 1 and finishes on February 28. (or 29). The annual temperature cycle and climatological trends seen on Earth are used to determine meteorological seasons.
We follow the astronomical definition of the seasons, which asserts that each of the four seasons begins on a solstice or equinox, because an almanac is typically characterized as a “calendar of the sky.”
That isn’t to say, however, that the meteorological definition is inaccurate. For agriculture, trade, and a number of other uses, meteorologists need to be able to compare climatological facts for a specific season from one year to the next. As a result, meteorologists divide the seasons into three-month groups. The meteorological winter season begins on December 1 and lasts for three months: December, January, and February.
What if I told you that The ancient Celts’ calendar was based on the solstices and equinoxes, which marked Quarter Days and Cross-Quarter Days, respectively. Get more information on the Celtic calendar.
Winter Solstice: Our Ancestors’ Customs and Traditions.
The solstice has been observed by tribes all across the world since prehistoric times. There are various ways our forefathers commemorated the first day of winter, from the Roman feast of Saturnalia to the pre-Christian festival of Norse jl or Juul held in Scandinavia. “Winter Solstice: Our Ancestors’ Customs and Traditions” explains more.
Was Stonehenge Built to Celebrate the Winter Solstice?
Stonehenge in England is a well-known ancient monument. Experts agree that the design looks to match with the solstices due to the stone arrangement. One notion is that the site was formerly a temple dedicated to the Sun and/or an astronomical observatory. More information about Ancient Sites Aligned with the Solstice and Equinox can be found here.
Winter Folklore and Verse
We at at the Almanac adore weather legends. Here are just a few (of many) proverbs we’ve gathered from our archives:
- In the winter, there’s a lot of snow; in the summer, there’s a lot of grain. a proverb from Estonia
- Visits should be brief, as if it were a cold winter day.
- In the winter, a sunny day is the mother of all storms. a proverb in English
- Summer has a bound, while winter has a yawn.
- The onion skins are very thin, and the weather is very mild.
What Does Winter Mean to You?
Winter brings both happiness and sadness. Some folks are looking forward to the cooler weather, snow, skiing and ice skating, curling up in front of the fire, and the Christmas atmosphere. When you go through the woods, you’ll notice a hushed, tranquil kind of quietness.
Others despise the freezing temperatures, blizzards, and other inclement weather (for good reason). Shoveling, snowblowing, dealing with terrible roads, and occasionally unpleasant temperatures are all part of winter in colder climates. Winter temperatures in warmer locations are pleasant or cold, and destinations like Florida fill up with people fleeing the harshness of a northern winter.
Winter Weather Forecast
Brrrr! So, how’s the weather this winter? Colder temperatures are on the way (if they haven’t already arrived). We’ve been forecasting the weather at The Old Farmer’s Almanac since the days of George Washington almost 225 years ago, so we know a thing or two about making predictions.
Check out our Winter Weather Forecast for 2022 to see what the weather will be like in your location this winter!
Pick up a copy of The 2022 Old Farmer’s Almanac for 12 months of weather forecasts and much more.
Wishing all of our Almanac readers a warm, magical, safe, and lovely winter season!
When Jupiter and Saturn align, what does it mean?
We are seeing a once-in-a-lifetime cosmic event: Jupiter and Saturn will collide in a conjunction today “This is the closest they’ve gone in nearly 800 years. Their closest approach will be at 1:21 p.m. ET this afternoon. What exactly does this imply? What should we do to prepare? Will this fortunate event equip us with superpowers, as some have speculated on Twitter?
A conjunction happens when two planets appear to collide in the sky as seen from Earth, according to astronomy. The night sky can be compared to a clock, with Earth at the center and each celestial body moving along the clock face at its own pace, depending on its orbit speed. Every 20 years or so, Jupiter and Saturn collide, but only rarely do they become so close. According to NASA, “They will seem so near in the sky on the 21st that a pinkie finger held at arm’s length can easily cover both planets. By looking southwest shortly after sunset, the planets will be visible to the naked eye.
This is, naturally, huge for astrologers. Jupiter and Saturn are outer planets, which means they travel significantly slower across the sky’s clock face; as a result, they’re thought to have an impact on civilization as a whole rather than on individuals. Furthermore, the conjunction occurs on the winter solstice, one of the year’s most spiritually significant days. It’s the longest night, which means it’s the time when the days eventually start to grow longer, a period connected with rebirth in all forms.” According to some, this is the identical alignment that occurred when Jesus was born. According to Berlin-based astrologer Randon Rosenbohm, “I have been expecting for a second coming of Christ to finish out the year,” but “living in the twenty-first century, I speculate this can appear like an extraterrestrial invasion.” “In astrology, it’s always been a bad omen.
Jupiter, on the other hand, is connected with optimism, expansion, healing, growth, and miracles, whereas Saturn is associated with constraint, responsibility, and long-term learning. We can expect a dramatic ideological shift when these energies converge. This conjunction, as Charles Harvey puts it in Mundane Astrology, “may bring in a new way of understanding the connection of the planets.” “Jupiter’s awareness of ideas, potentialities, and possibilities, as well as their realization in the physical world (Saturn).
The fantastic combination “Famous astrologer Susan Miller says on her blog that “setting the tone for the ethos for the next 20 years, affecting the arts, music, theatre, literature, entertainment, designer fashion, food, music, mathematics, science, politics, and the government agenda.” ” To put it another way, everything!
This conjunction occurs in Aquarius, the sign of creativity, humanitarianism, and independence, where the planets haven’t met since 1405, just before the Renaissance began. That would be noteworthy enough, but Aquarius is also an air sign, which is recognized for being cerebral, communicative, and idealistic. Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions have largely occurred in earth signs for the previous two centuries, which are practical and grounded by nature. For the next 200 years or more, they will only communicate by air signs. This shift, according to Miller, is referred to as a “From stable earth energy to innovative air energy, there has been a grand transformation.
So, what can we anticipate? According to Lisa Stardust, an astrologer in New York City, we should expect “dramatic transformation, progress, and a revitalized sense of optimism Both Rosenbohm and Stardust pointed out that the COVID vaccination will be available at the same time as the next event. Rosenbohm described it thus way: “Jupiter represents expansion, Saturn represents constraint, and Aquarius represents inventiveness. We’re literally inventing ways to halt a virus from spreading. She also believes that the “The Bitcoin surge is a result of the transit, which certain financial-astrology blogs had predicted for quite some time. ( ) “The expansion of Bitcoin, the blockchain, and other cryptocurrencies appears to be extremely likely as a result of the, according to one.)
We only have to put in the effort, according to Stardust: “If we’re prepared to fully dedicate ourselves to helping others, and to giving ourselves to a bigger cause, we can “absolutely survive this time,” she says.
Is it possible that we will be in retrograde in December 2021?
Do you have a habit of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time? The stars have an explanation for you: Mercury retrograde is the name of this celestial event, and it will strike us four (four!) times in 2022.
On Friday, January 14, the first Mercury retrograde of 2022 begins in Aquarius. On Tuesday, January 25, the planet enters Capricorn. We should expect frustrating miscommunications, technology meltdowns, and travel catastrophes as Mercury cruises backwards. While the formal start of the first Mercury retrograde of the year isn’t until Friday, January 14, the shadow period began on Wednesday, December 29, 2021. We began to experience the impacts of retrograde during this time, albeit they were less powerful than when things were in full swing.
How is Capricorn in December 2021?
This month, it’s all about embracing the spirit of the wild and unknown. It’s all about saying yes, being present, and trusting where the Universe is taking you. A former connection that you didn’t pay much attention to is reappearing in your life. But here’s the thing: in order to make room for it, you’ll have to sever ties with the past. You’ll need to get rid of the baggage that’s been weighing you down. Something tells us you’re already aware of what the cards are indicating. The moment you allow yourself to fall loose, the magic will begin to emerge. December 2021 will be full of promise, magic, and limitless possibilities for Saturnians who are married. Consider it a time to give rather than to receive. To make room for others to fly and achieve their goals.
Which astrological combination is the best?
When the planets Jupiter and Saturn come closest together in the sky, it is called a grand conjunction. When Jupiter “overtakes” Saturn in its orbit, a great conjunction occurs once every 20 years. They’re called “great” because they’re the rarest of all the planet-planet conjunctions visible to the human eye (i.e. excluding Uranus and Neptune).
The distance between the planets varies depending on the conjunction, although most are between 0.5 and 1.3 degrees (30 to 78 arcminutes, or 1 to 2.5 times the width of a full moon). Very close conjunctions are far less often (though the greatest separation of 1.3 is still close by inner planet standards): separations of fewer than 10 arcminutes have only occurred four times since 1200, the most recent in 2020.
