Planets Jupiter (left) and Saturn are seen during the Great Conjunction from the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles.

Planets Jupiter (left) and Saturn are seen during the Great Conjunction from the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. / AFP via Getty Images

Stargazers around the world didn't pass up an opportunity to see a rare event in the night sky.

On Monday evening, Jupiter and Saturn appeared closer to each other than they have for hundreds of years, in what has become known as the Great Conjunction. Their proximity is the view from Earth. In space, the planets are hundreds of millions of miles apart.

Jupiter and Saturn's positions in the sky align "about once every 20 years," according to NASA, though almost never this closely.

"You'd have to go all the way back to just before dawn on March 4, 1226, to see a closer alignment between these objects visible in the night sky," Patrick Hartigan, an astronomer at Rice University, said in a recent statement.

Photographers around the world captured images of the gas giants appearing to shift close together — and groups of people taking in the unique sight.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

A family at the border crossing between Mexico and the U.S. in Ciudad Juarez uses a telescope to view Jupiter and Saturn during the Great Conjunction.

A family at the border crossing between Mexico and the U.S. in Ciudad Juarez uses a telescope to view Jupiter and Saturn during the Great Conjunction. / Reuters

People waiting at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles.

People waiting at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. / AFP via Getty Images

Kuwaiti photographers follow the alignment in al-Salmi district, a desert area about 75 miles west of Kuwait City.

Kuwaiti photographers follow the alignment in al-Salmi district, a desert area about 75 miles west of Kuwait City. / AFP via Getty Images

Jupiter and Saturn are seen coming together in the night sky, over the sails of Brill windmill in Brill, England.

Jupiter and Saturn are seen coming together in the night sky, over the sails of Brill windmill in Brill, England. / Getty Images

People stand in a queue to see the Great Conjunction at the Maidan area in Kolkata, India.

People stand in a queue to see the Great Conjunction at the Maidan area in Kolkata, India. / AFP via Getty Images

People watch the alignment in Edgerton, Kan.

People watch the alignment in Edgerton, Kan. / AP

Jupiter, left, and Saturn appear about one-tenth of a degree apart. Here they are seen behind Christmas lights in Las Vegas.

Jupiter, left, and Saturn appear about one-tenth of a degree apart. Here they are seen behind Christmas lights in Las Vegas. / Getty Images

Kuwaiti astrophotographers Mohammad al-Obaidi, right, and Abdullah al-Harbi follow the Great Conjunction in al-Salmi district, a desert area west of Kuwait City.

Kuwaiti astrophotographers Mohammad al-Obaidi, right, and Abdullah al-Harbi follow the Great Conjunction in al-Salmi district, a desert area west of Kuwait City. / AFP via Getty Images

Tags: night sky  Saturn  Jupiter