Rare Great Conjunction Brings Coloradans Together In Unprecedented Year

DENVER (CBS4) - A once in a lifetime event, the Great Conjunction, had many Coloradans looking up Monday night. It's been hundreds of years since Jupiter and Saturn have been this close and visible to people on earth.

Not even a pandemic would stop former Denver Astronomical Society President Ron Hranac from getting outside and staring up at the night sky.

"We're seeing something that's literally a once in a lifetime event," Hranac told CBS4's Andrea Flores. "We've got a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, which means that the two planets appear very, very close to each other in the sky from our perspective. In space, they're actually pretty far apart. Jupiter is about 550 million miles from us, and Saturn is about 1 billion miles from us, so they're very far apart in space."

In all his years spent staring through a telescope, he's never seen anything quite like this.

"They don't usually get this close to each other in the sky. The last time was about 400 years ago, but it couldn't be seen because it was mostly in daylight. So the last time it was actually visible was about 800 years ago," Hranac said.

As this unprecedented year comes to a close, his neighbors in a Lone Tree cul-de-sac say this sight comes at just the right time.

"We get to forget about what's going on, and just get to relax and stare up at the sky for a little bit, and be around neighbors," said Paul Gazdik.

While the debate continues on whether this is another "Star of Bethlehem," Ron believes this "Christmas Star" is something special.

Scientists have come forward with a number of ideas that could've been the star of Bethlehem, for example, a comet, or a super nova, or a conjunction.

"There was a conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in the year 7 B.C., by the modern calendar, so that fits pretty closely," said Hranac. "This conjunction is close to our Christmas, it's on a solstice which makes it even more interesting, but it is an astronomical event that could have been something that was seen 2,000 years ago and was called the 'Star of Bethlehem'? Was it the conjunction of 7 BC? It's hard to say. Was it a comet or something else? We don't know."