A Christmas Star Will Light Up The South Dakota Sky In 2020

Christmastime is here, which gives South Dakotans and the rest of the country something to finally look forward to after the world’s most tumultuous year! Well, one thing to look forward to, as the Mount Rushmore State will also soon have a front-row seat to the must-see Christmas star, which only happens once every several centuries:

Taking place the week of Christmas, the Christmas star is literally a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that last occurred some 800 years ago.

Flickr/Rochelle Scharpf

While the Christmas star may sound just like that - a big and beautiful star - it is, in fact, the aligning of planets Jupiter and Saturn, which will be within a.1-degree angle of each other, making for an easy-to-spot phenomenon.

Flickr/Gordon Joly

According to WKYC Studios, a good way to reference the planets’ close proximity to one another is to compare it to the moon, which has a width of .5 degrees, whereas the “distance between Jupiter and Saturn from our perspective will be about 1/5 the width of a full moon.”

Flickr/Maximiliano Kolus

To see the Christmas star for yourself, step outside at around sunset during the week of Christmas, where it should be visible and easy-to-spot along the western horizon.

Flickr/Udo S

While the star should be visible during these 7 days, experts suggest that the best time to catch the Christmas star is after the winter solstice sunset on December 21, 2020, as the planets will be close together and brighter than ever.

Flickr/bratispixl

Though one may think that the Christmas star earned its name via the season it appears, astronomers ponder if the Biblical Star of Bethlehem was related to the alignment of Jupiter, Saturn, and possibly Venus, as reported by Al.com.

Flickr/Leonard J Matthews

Do you have an event or attraction that you would like to see featured on Only in South Dakota? Nominate it here! For even more to see and do around SoDak this month, you will want to Escape 2020 With A Magical Journey Aboard The Holiday Express In South Dakota.