OUTER SPACE — This past December 21 wasn’t merely the winter solstice—it was also the night of the “great conjunction,” when Jupiter and Saturn were mere “arc minutes” apart (a unit of angular measure equal to 1/60 of a degree). This year, the two slow-moving planets (Jupiter takes 12 years to circle the sun, Saturn takes 29.5) were six arc minutes apart. According to Space.com, this is not quite close enough to appear as one star, but it is still an extraordinary event.

The last time these celestial bodies had a meet and greet was July 16, 1623; then, they were five arc minutes apart and only viewable by people living in northern South America, central Africa or Indonesia. Before that, it was on March 5, 1226—an event that was visible to most of the world’s population—and the
planets were only two arc minutes apart. 

It’s too bad, for us here in the northeastern corner of the country, the sky didn’t cooperate and hid our view of this rare, once-in-a-lifetime celestial rendezvous. We just had to take science’s word for it... And hey, at least it’s not the 1600s and we have Amanda’s nifty camerawork to prove how cool it was.