Winter solstice: Jupiter and Saturn ‘merge’ in rare celestial event

A very rare, once-in-a-lifetime celestial event will shine brightly in the sky on Monday evening – weather permitting, of course.

Our two largest planets – Jupiter and Saturn – will appear to merge in what is called a conjunction on this, the winter solstice.

This will be the closest the planets will have been since 1623.

But back then they were very close to the sun, making the conjunction very hard to see.