‘Christmas Star’: Twitter reacts to Jupiter, the conjunction of Saturn

On December 21, the night of the winter solstice, the two largest planets of our solar system passed side by side in rare cosmic events known as planetary conjunction.

During the event, which is also called the “Christmas star”, Jupiter and Saturn seemed to unite for a few brief moments and shine like one bright double planet. It was the closest that two planets could have emerged from the Earth’s surface in more than 800 years.

People and organizations from all over the world opened Twitter to share their photos and thoughts on the event.

Here is a sample of what they said:

NASA described the connection as an international moment of unity and shared a picture of the event.

This journalist from Las Vegas was delighted with the image of the connection excluded from the desert.

Some Twitter users expressed their unhappiness because they could not see the event, like this person in Ireland.

The sky above astronaut Time Peake was also not ideal for star gazing.

Several Twitter users saw the event as an opportunity to shed jokes from Star Wars.

And this user playfully referred to “School House Rock!”

This user has created her own “Grand Conjunction”.

A news report by Katy Perry reported that the singer and her fiancée Orlando Bloom spent the evening watching a date from the observatory.

The Twitter account of the Everglades National Park posted some stunning images of “Christmas stars” taken by the park staff.