Great Conjunction2020: NASA tips to see Jupiter and Saturn shine as a 'Christmas Star' Jupiter and Saturn will align in the night sky on Dec. 21 in an event astronomers call the "great conjunction" marking the planets' closest encounter in nearly 400 years.Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass one-thousandth that of the Sun, but two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined. Jupiter is the third-brightest natural object in the Earth's night sky after the Moon and Venus. It has been observed since pre-historic times and is named after the Roman god Jupiter.

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Fact 1

LOCATION: Fifth gas ball from the sun

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Fact 2

DISTANCE FROM THE SUN: 460,237,112 to 507,040,015 miles (740,679,835 to 816,001,807 kilometers)

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Fact 3

AVERAGE TEMPERATURE: -234° F (-148° C)

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Fact 4

LENGTH OF SPACE JOURNEY FROM EARTH TO JUPITER: 13 months

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Fact 5

GRAVITY: If you weigh 100 pounds (45 kilograms) on Earth, you’d weigh 253 pounds (115 kilograms) here.