Editing Great conjunction (section)

{{short description|Conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}
[[File:TheGreatConjunction2020.png|thumb|[[Shift-and-add|Stacked]] photograph of the great conjunction of 2020 four hours before closest approach, with [[Jupiter]] 6{{ndash}}7 [[arcminute]]s below [[Saturn]]. The moons [[Io (moon)|Io]], [[Ganymede (moon)|Ganymede]], [[Europa (moon)|Europa]], and [[Titan (moon)|Titan]] are visible.|upright=1.4]]

A '''great conjunction''' is a [[conjunction (astronomy)|conjunction]] of the planets [[Jupiter]] and [[Saturn]], when the two planets appear closest together in the sky. Great conjunctions occur approximately every 20 years when Jupiter "overtakes" Saturn in its [[orbit]]. They are named "great" for being by far the rarest of the conjunctions between [[naked-eye planets]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ford |first1=Dominic |title=Great Conjunction |url=https://in-the-sky.org/article.php?term=great_conjunction |website=In The Sky |access-date=22 December 2020 |date=20 October 2020}}</ref> (i.e. excluding [[Uranus]] and [[Neptune]]).

The spacing between the planets varies from conjunction to conjunction with most events being 0.5 to 1.3 [[degree (angle)|degrees]] (30 to 78 [[arcminute]]s, or 1 to 2.5 times the width of a [[full moon]]). Very close conjunctions happen much less frequently (though the maximum of 1.3° is still close by [[inner planet]] standards): separations of less than 10 arcminutes have only happened four times since 1200, most recently in 2020.<ref name="auto3" />