Father and son: getting close

Jupiter and Saturn will be nudging up close together on Monday.  This nudging is the closest the two have come since "The Great Conjunction" of 1623.  How close?  According to NASA's website:

On the 21st, they will appear so close that a pinkie finger at arm’s length will easily cover both planets in the sky.

Or to be more precise, one-tenth of a degree apart. And, as frosting on the cake, this will occur on the day of the winter solstice.

So much for the science. What does it portend? Not a lot, if 1623 is the measure. In 1623, Urban VIII became pope. Virginia passed America's first temperance law. An early mechanical computer called "The Calculating Clock" was invented. And -- listen carefully -- forces from the Kingdom of Kongo defeated the Portuguese in the Battle of Mbanda Kasi.

But rather than look back at history, let's look at the stars.  Who were Saturn and Jupiter?  They were Roman gods, of course.  And Saturn was the father of Jupiter.    (Ops, the "earth mother," was also Jupiter's mother.)  Saturn was a cranky sort.  Because of a prophecy that one of his children would overthrow him from his position as the President Trump of his time, he ate each of his children as they were born.  Ops got a little tired of this after a while, and, by trickery, managed to save Jupiter.  Who eventually fulfilled the prophecy.

It was what we call a fraught father-son relationship.  Jupiter, always suspecting that daddy was going to eat him, and Saturn, always suspecting that the little tad, growing bigger every day, would try to take over the family universe.  So I sense tension and friction as they come within one-tenth of a degree on Monday.

We know from history that Jupiter will ultimately prevail.  On Monday?  Or do we have to wait another four hundred years or so?  Who knows.  But I look forward to Jupiter's ultimate victory.  After all, he was the father himself of Apollo, god of the sun (and of light, music and poetry, healing, prophecy and knowledge, order and beauty, archery and agriculture).  And the father of Diana, goddess of the moon (and of wild animals and of hunting).  And the father of Minerva, goddess of wisdom, war, art, schools, and commerce.

Mostly good stuff, aside from war, right?  The things that make us glad to be human.

And Saturn?   Well, with the notable exception of Jupiter, he ate his kids for dinner.  After getting his come-uppance, he mellowed, settled down in Latium (near Rome), and tinkered with farming. 

I root for Jupiter, and am glad he won.  Let's hope he vanquishes Saturn on Monday -- the very day that the sun begins moving northward again, the days grow longer, the trees begin budding, and the pandemic loses its virulence.  Three cheers for Jupiter, and for the gifts that Apollo, Diana, and Minerva bestow upon us.  

Keep your eyes on the sky, near sunset Monday.  And Happy Solstice.