jupiter-saturn conjunction

Every twenty years, the two largest planets in our solar system appear together as seen from Earth. The computer-generated scenes below show the planets in a 50-degree-wide field of view, roughly equivalent to the field of view of a typical home camera.

Jupiter and Saturn seen low in the southeastern sky of Baikonur Cosmodrome before sunrise on 12 April 1961, the morning of Yuri Gagarin's historic flight.

Jupiter and Saturn seen high in the southeast from Kennedy Space Center after sunset on 12 April 1981, following the first Space Shuttle launch.

Jupiter and Saturn together in the constellation of Taurus on 12 April 2001, the night of the 1st World Space Party.

Images generated by CyberSky 3.1 Shareware Version. CyberSky (c) 1999, Stephen Michael Schimpf.