Appulses of Jupiter and Saturn

TL;DR

This paper re-analyzes historical and future conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn, highlighting their rare close approaches and the absence of occultations in the recent past, with a future occultation observable from Neptune in 2046.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of planetary conjunctions over a 4,000-year span, emphasizing the rarity and characteristics of close approaches and occultations.

Findings

No occultations occurred in the last 5,000 years.

Conjunctions closer than 10 arc minutes happen approximately every 400 years.

An occultation will occur in 2046 as viewed from Neptune.

Abstract

The latest conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn occurred at an optical distance of 6 arc minutes on 21 December 2020. We re-analysed all encounters of these two planets between -1000 and +3000 CE, as the extraordinary ones (<10$^{\prime}$) take place near the line of nodes every 400 years. An occultation of their discs did not and will not happen within the historical time span of $\pm$5,000 years around now. When viewed from Neptune though, there will be an occultation in 2046.