Grand Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in Ithaca, New York

Jupiter and Saturn in conjunction.

Tonight is the Grand Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the sky, as viewed from the Earth. They look really close to us, but in actuality they're hundreds of millions of miles away from each other. But they look cool.

Unfortunately, in Ithaca, New York, it's usually cloudy in the winter, and often raining or snowing. Tonight is a typical cloudy Ithaca night. So we can't see the Great Conjunction in the sky. We can see it, however, down the street from me.

One of my neighbors has created an entire solar system, from the Sun to Pluto, out of various translucent materials, and has hung them around his house, just down the street from me. We usually see them hitched to bicycles or on the backs of the bike riders as they wheel through the neighborhood on Halloween. Tonight Bike Walk Tompkins did have a celebratory bike ride, but without Dave's planets. 

Earth, Mercury, the Sun, Jupiter, and Saturn

Mars

Pluto, with Jupiter and Saturn in the background.