Celestial Events Of 2020: Geminid Meteor Shower To Great Conjunction, 2020 Enthralled People

Stunning meteor showers, rare eclipses and once-in-a-lifetime conjunction of planets left stargazers enthralled this year, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

Though the world came to a standstill due to the pandemic, the celestial events did not take any break this year and 2020 brought a series of visual treats.

From the Perseid and Geminid meteor shower to four lunar eclipses, 2020 was full of interesting sky events.

Seven planets visible in the sky

In November, people were greeted with seven planets in the night sky. In case you were wondering why it is seven and not eight, it¡¯s because Pluto was demoted from planetary status due to its size.

NASA

Venus is going to be the brightest planet in the sky however, we¡¯ll also get a glimpse of Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will be easy to spit with the naked eyes. Neptune and Uranus however would require binoculars to get a better look.

This was reported first by EarthSky, while also offering guidelines to make sure you don¡¯t miss the planets. The first two planets to make an appearance are also two of the largest planets in our solar system -- Saturn and Jupiter.

5 planets & a crescent moon

Back in July, stargazers caught the beautiful sight of five planets and a crescent moon all hanging out together in the sky.

NASA

Talking to CNet, Jeffrey Hunt, an astronomy educator and former planetarium director said, "Step outside early in the morning, at least an hour before sunrise. Find the four bright planets - Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter. They look like overly bright stars. Brilliant Venus is low in the east-northeast. Mars is the lone 'star' in the southeast, and Jupiter and Saturn are the stars in the southwest. To your eyes, they won't look like the photos made by spacecraft, just overly bright stars."

Asteriod the size of Burj Khalifa flew past the Earth

In November, an asteroid named 153201 2000 WO107, one as big as Dubai's' Burj Khalifa, flew past the Earth.

Representational Image/NASA

According to reports, the massive rock barreled past at a distance of about 4,302,775 km from earth. And the event took place at 1:08am on November 29.

Asteroid twice the size of Taj Mahal zoomed past Earth

On Diwali, two asteroids, one of which NASA had warned to be twice the size of the Taj Mahal and "potentially hazardous" buzzed past the Earth.

These asteroids are named Asteroid 2020 TB9 and Asteroid 2020 ST1.

Representational Image/NASA

According to a report, Nasa has described Asteroid 2020 ST1 as a "potentially hazardous" asteroid that will be zoomed past Earth on November 14.

The great conjunction of Saturn & Jupiter

A natural phenomenon known as the 'Great Conjunction' of our two planetary giants, Jupiter and Saturn, took place on December 21.

Many believed it to be the 'Christmas Star' or the 'Star of Bethlehem'.

File Photo

According to the space.com, the 'two planets might be a replica of the legendary Star of Bethlehem'.

Astronauts and scientists have tried to find out for a long time that whether the 'Star of Bethlehem' really ever existed. One of the theories say that in the year 7 B.C., Jupiter and Saturn had three conjunctions in the same constellation and that could possibly explain it.

Jupiter and Saturn seem to pass each other nearly once every two decades. NASA says, "It's been nearly 400 years since the planets passed this close to each other in the sky, and nearly 800 years since the alignment of Saturn and Jupiter occurred at night, as it will for 2020, allowing nearly everyone around the world to witness this 'Great conjunction'."

Strawberry moon

The full 'strawberry moon' will rose on the evening of June 5 and, no, it wasn't as red as a strawberry.

File Photo

The name given for this year's lunar eclipse coincides with the harvest time for the soft fruit, hence the name.

The Maine Farmer's Almanac first published Indian names for the full moons back in the 1930s. According to them, June marks the beginning of the short strawberry season in the North-Eastern United States.

Geminid meteor shower

The Geminid meteor shower graced the sky in December with as many as 100 meteors visible to the naked eye per hour.

NASA

Geminids are a trail of dust that left behind comet 3200 Phaethon, a couple of thousand years ago. They are mostly seen in the star constellation Gemini, hence the name.

The shower was first spotted in 1862, but researchers could only learn about its source -- Phaethon -- more than a century later in 1983. The comet isn¡¯t that long -- roughly three miles -- and is known to travel around the sun once every 1.4 years disintegrating its dust every time it crosses our Sun.