The great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn as viewed from the Main Injector

On Dec. 20, 2020, the Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn as seen from the MI-14 service building using an 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. (Though the closest the planets came was Dec. 21, 2020, Illinois expected overcast skies.) Taken shortly after sunset facing a clear southwest sky, the colors of Jupiter and Saturn's rings are visible, as seen here. The image is a composite of three sets of images taken with two different cameras on the telescope. astronomy, planet, Jupiter, moon, star, sky, night, nature, space Photo: Marty Murphy

On Dec. 20, 2020, on the day before the closest apparent approach, the great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn is visible from the MI-14 service building. Taken shortly after sunset facing a clear southwest sky, the colors of Jupiter and Saturn’s rings are visible, as seen here. The image is a composite of three sets of images taken with two different cameras on an 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. Photo: Marty Murphy

On Dec. 20, 2020, the great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn is visible from the MI-14 service building. This annotated version of the original composite photo points out Jupiter's and Saturn's visible moons, as well as stars. The image is a composite of three sets of images taken with two different cameras on the telescope. astronomy, moon, star, sky, night, Jupiter, space, outer space, nature Photo: Marty Murphy

On Dec. 20, 2020, the great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn is visible from the MI-14 service building. This annotated version points out Jupiter’s and Saturn’s visible moons, as well as stars. Photo: Marty Murphy

On Dec. 20, 2020, the waxing half-moon as seen during the Great Conjunction from outside the MI-14 service building on the Fermilab campus. sky, moon, nature, night, astronomy Photo: Marty Murphy

On Dec. 20, 2020, the waxing moon offers its own show of beauty during the great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn from outside the MI-14 service building on the Fermilab campus. Photo: Marty Murphy