As 2020 draws to a close, the night sky has offered a rare and beautiful spectacle: a Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn.

The two gas giants appeared a mere tenth of a degree apart - so close they looked like a single brilliant point of light to the naked eye.

It has been a bittersweet month for astronomy, heavily overshadowed by the tragic, catastrophic collapse of the Arecibo Observatory's instrument platform just a few weeks ago.

However, witnessing this conjunction -the closest visible alignment of these two planets since 1226 -served as a marvellous celestial balm. Looking up and tracking their slow, inevitable dance over the past few weeks has been a grounding reminder of the enduring beauty of the cosmos.

Image Credit: By Kevin Saragozza - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link