Here's a figure I put together for NASA, showing the geometry. This was circulated widely -- I posted it on Facebook and it was shared over 600 times. NB: Jupiter's orbital period should be 12 years, not 10. But hey, at least it's accurate to one significant digit...

And a couple of plots I made using JPL-NAIF's WebGeocalc, which is a great way to make quick plots of solar system geometry. WebGeocalc is a simple frontend to SPICE, which is JPL's solar system geometry API which I worked with extensively when with the New Horizons and Cassini mission teams.

First shot ot the upcoming conjunction: all the way back in October. Jupiter and Saturn were starting to come close to each other in the sky. You can see them both straight ahead: Jupiter is on the right and a bit brighter than Saturn, which is to the left. On the far right is the crescent moon.

This photo was from my trip to observe a stellar occultation by the asteroid Orus, in support of NASA's Lucy mission.

Jupiter and Saturn setting on the beach in Delaware over Thanksgiving. Handheld 10-second shot (!), w/ iPhone 12's night mode, which magically removes camera shake.

Astro, an hour after sunset and 48 degrees: "Henry, I know it's cold outside, but I just feel like of the two of us, one person is not really focusing on the digging. Could you please try to focus, and not just take photos?" Yes, guilty -- so I resumed digging and we got the sand-chamber finished. Here is Astro with the headlamp in my final photo.

Jupiter and Saturn over the Tidal Basin and Jefferson Memorial, Washington DC. I spent a couple of hours on December 8 taking pictures from the National Mall.

Washington Monument, with Saturn and Jupiter. They're to the left, right where the color of the monument changes 1/3 of the way up.

Washington Monument, with Saturn and Jupiter. Crop of the previous shot.

Washington Monument, with Saturn and Jupiter.

Jupiter and Saturn next to the Washington Monument. I love this shot.

Jupiter and Saturn next to the Washington Monument, with cyclist.

Jupiter and Saturn next to the Washington Monument, with cyclist.

Saturn and Jupiter over the Yates Federal Building / US Forest Service, National Mall, DC. Look closely and you can see Jupiter's four brightest moons! This evening I just had a 200mm lens and no tripod -- I should have been better prepared, but it was cool to see the satellites with just this minimal gear, handheld.

OK, a week later, here's a shot from the grounds of the National Cathedral in DC. Zoom in and you can clearly see Jupiter's bright moons (and even Saturn's rings and Titan too if you squint -- Titan is super-faint, just left of Saturn). At the conjunction on December 21, they'll be 10x closer than they are here!

Taken with a DSLR at 200 mm, 1 second, no telescope needed.

Jupiter and Saturn over the National Cathedral! Clouds were thick: I'd line up the planets against a tower, and then they'd vanish, only to reappear lower down a few minutes later.

All of the scaffolding is there from the 5.8-magnitude earthquake that hit DC in 2011.

The planets move fast! 8 minutes after the previous shot, with Jupiter and Saturn next to the main tower of the National Cathedral.

Jupiter and Saturn at the conjunction itsefl! I went to Ft. Reno (DC's high point, not far from our house). There were 50 or so people up there watching the conjunction. We had 10 minutes of clear weather before the clouds came in. I kept clicking away and got this one as the planets were visible through a hole.

I love this shot. The radio tower to me looks like one of those lifeguard platforms on the beach, with the clouds the pounding surf waves behind it. So oceanic!

At the conjunction itself, from the high point in DC, Fort Reno. Zoom in and you can see Jupiter's four moons, and the shape of Saturn's rings.

This one is focus-stacked: impossible to get the tower and the planets sharp in one shot, so it's a merger of two, taken at different focus settings.

Jupiter and Saturn over the National Cathedral, 2 days after conjunction. It was effectively 100% cloudcover, but I just kept sitting on the shutter and clicking shots. Once I came home, I found this one, where the planets came out for long enough to be framed by one of the pillars on the North Tower.

I'd scouted out this location two weeks ago -- I knew exactly where to set up to get them framed as they were setting, including knocking on a few doors to get permission to use their yards!

Screengrab of a video talk I did in India! This was organized by the amazing Aryan Mishra (at center), who I first met when he was a high-schooler in Delhi. Even by that time, he had given hundreds of talks about astronomy to schools across India. Now as a university student, he's even stepped up his outreach more. This talk was attended by more than 400 students across India.

One of many TV interviews I did about the conjunction! FWIW, that's my Meade 8" SCT in the background. It wasn't even planted there! I had it up in my office since I've been hooking up a new occulation camera.