Winter solstice Google Doodle celebrates ‘Christmas Star’

Although the winter solstice occurs every year, in 2020 a celestial event may steal the show.

The newest Google Doodle celebrates not only the start of winter on Monday, Dec. 21 but also a rare event — the formation of a “double planet.”

“As Earth’s Northern Hemisphere hunkers down for winter and its longest night of the year, it seems Jupiter and Saturn have decided to put on quite an unusual show for the world to see!” Google said in a press release about its newest animation.

This evening, onlookers will be able to glimpse the night sky and see the “Christmas Star,” which is formed by the biggest planets in the solar system coming so close together they’ll only be 0.1% degree apart. It will be the first time that Jupiter and Saturn have done so since 1226.

“You can imagine the solar system to be a racetrack, with each of the planets as a runner in their own lane and the Earth toward the center of the stadium,” said Henry Throop, astronomer in the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington told the agency of the “Great Conjunction.” “From our vantage point, we’ll be able to be to see Jupiter on the inside lane, approaching Saturn all month and finally overtaking it on December 21.”

Google collaborated with NASA to illustrate the doodle.

Those who wish to catch the event should find a location where the night sky will be clear. Then, an hour before the sun goes down, Jupiter will be easily visible in the southwestern sky. Looking slightly fainter, Saturn will appear somewhat above and to the left of Jupiter before Jupiter overtakes it and reverses positions in the sky.

According to ClickOrlando, the planets will progressively get lower in the sky as the evening goes on, so it’s best to catch the phenomenon earlier rather than later.