On December 21st nature will provide an early Christmas present known as "The Great Conjunction", a once-in-a-generation cosmic event in which Jupiter and Saturn will appear closer than they've ever been for nearly 400 years.

The history of the Great Conjunction and its connection to religious and astrological phenomena is fascinating: Did a Great Conjunction really point the three wise men in the right direction? Why did a medieval Great Conjunction spark predictions of the end of the World? Just how close do Jupiter and Saturn get?

To celebrate this rare event we will be providing a 2-hour special broadcast from 4pm on AstroRadio and YouTube, which has over 1/4 million listeners across the Globe. We will present a live view of the Great Conjunction from the Keele Observatory, followed by several short talks from Keele students covering some intriguing features of Jupiter, Saturn and their impact on the Solar System. Everyone can get involved in the event! We will be hosting a Great Conjunction photo competition open to all participants and all entries will be made available in an online public gallery. We will later host an interactive Q&A session with Keele astronomers.

If you would like to be a part of this, please contact Dr. Alex Binks [a.s.binks1@keele.ac.uk] or Scott Walker [s.r.walker@keele.ac.uk] who will be happy to discuss this with you.

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