Figure realized with Skyglobe

FTP Skyglobe : ftp://ftp.th-darmstadt.de/pub/machines/ms-dos/Simtel/msdos/astronomy/

Sometimes we notice coïncidences, a sort of meeting between the slow planets of the solar system: Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune.
We know that they orbit the sun during a period according to their distance from the sun. For example the earth takes 365 days 1/4 to turn. Jupiter is more outlying from the sun and takes 12 years, Uranus, 84 years and Neptune almost 165 years. According to these diverse cycles, sometimes they seem scattered in the sky and sometimes, very rarely, they seem to meet: there is a conjunction. The conjunctions between the planets close to the sun are rather frequent. But it's quite different for the distant ones.
We notice for the next months:
January 1997, conjunction Jupiter-Uranus
February 1997, conjunction Jupiter-Neptune