Christmas is a few days away, but the skies  gave us an early holiday treat last  night.   For the first time in 800 years, we were able to see the “Christmas Star” in the sky when Jupiter and Saturn appear to merge and form a double planet.   Jupiter and Saturn conjunctions themselves happen every 20 years, but not close like last night’s show.  The last time the two planets came this close actually was 400 years ago in 1623. You have to go back further to find a closer conjunction that people could see. That was during the Middle Ages in 1226.