Editing Great conjunction (section)

== In history ==
{{See also|Astrological aspect#Great conjunctions}}
Great conjunctions attracted considerable attention in the past as omens. During the late [[Middle Ages]] and [[Renaissance]] they were a topic broached by the pre-scientific and transitional astronomer-astrologers of the period up to the time of [[Tycho Brahe]] and [[Johannes Kepler]], by scholastic thinkers such as [[Roger Bacon]]<ref>'' The Opus Majus'' of Roger Bacon, ed. J. H. Bridges, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1897, Vol. I, p. 263.</ref> and [[Pierre d'Ailly]],<ref>[http://warburg.sas.ac.uk/pdf/fah1620p.pdf '' De Concordia astronomice Veritatis et narrations historic'' (1414)]</ref> and they are mentioned in popular and literary works by authors such as [[Dante]],<ref name=Woody>{{cite journal|last1=Woody|first1= K. M.|title=Dante and the Doctrine of the Great Conjunctions|journal= Dante Studies, with the Annual Report of the Dante Society|volume= 95 |date=1977|issue= 95|pages=119–134|jstor=40166243}}</ref> [[Lope de Vega]],<ref>[[Frederick A. de Armas]], "Saturn in Conjunction: From Albumasar to Lope de Vega." in ''Saturn from Antiquity to the Renaissance'', ed. Massimo Ciavolella and Amilcare A. Iannucci (Toronto: Dovehouse Editions, 1993), pp. 151-72. {{ISBN| 9781895537000}}</ref> and [[Shakespeare]].<ref name=Aston>{{cite journal |last1=Aston |first1=Margaret |title=The Fiery Trigon Conjunction: An Elizabethan Astrological Prediction |journal=Isis |date=1970 |volume=61 |issue=2 |pages=159–187 |doi=10.1086/350618|s2cid=144351963 }}</ref> This interest is traced back in Europe to translations of Arabic texts, especially [[Albumasar]]'s book on conjunctions.<ref>'' De magnis coniunctionibus'' was translated in the 12th century, a modern edition-translation by K. Yamamoto and Ch. Burnett, Leiden, 2000</ref>

Clusterings of several planets were considered even more significant. The Chinese apparently remembered the clustering of all five planets in 1953 BC, and noted the clustering of all but Venus in 1576 BC and of all five in 1059 BC. These were connected in Chinese thought to the founding of the first three historical dynasties, the [[Xia dynasty]], the [[Shang dynasty]], and the [[Zhou dynasty]]. The intervals involved, of 377.8 years (19 great conjunction intervals) and 516.4 years (26 great conjunction intervals) bring Mars back to approximately the same position. Further repeats of the 516-year period lead to the clustering in AD 1524, considered ominous in Europe at the time of the [[Radical Reformation]], and the upcoming clustering of September 2040, which will involve all five planets again, in a longitude span of less than 7°.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=D.W.Pankenier |title=Astrological origins of Chinese dynastic ideology |journal=Vistas in Astronomy |date=1995 |volume=39 |issue=4 |pages=503–516 |doi=10.1016/0083-6656(95)00007-0 |url=https://www.lehigh.edu/~dwp0/Assets/images/astroorigins.pdf}}</ref><ref>12 September 2040 in {{cite web |title=Ephemerides for Year 2040 |url=https://www.findyourfate.com/astrology/ephemeris/2040.html#september}}</ref>