Catch The Next Jupiter Sighting
Are you a space junkie and want to catch a killer view of the solar system’s gas giant right from the comfort of your own backyard? Well, in a great turn of events that only happens once every 13 months, Jupiter will remain visible the entire month surrounding opposition.
Stargazers will not require a telescope to see the big planet as it will be clear and bright enough to view with a simple pair of binoculars. By being in opposition, this means that Earth will be directly in between the gas giant and the Sun in the formation of a straight line.
It also means that Jupiter will be closest to Earth in the stage. According to a statement released by NASA, Jupiter will be “at its biggest and brightest this month, rising at dusk and remaining visible all night.”
Stargazers will be able to see Jupiter and four of its moons—Io, Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede—at dusk in the northeast where the opposition will begin at 6 p.m. Jupiter will be at its peak around 11:30 p.m.
For those who enjoy learning a little about space, Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and by far the largest.
It is more than twice as massive as all the other planets combined (the mass of Jupiter is actually 318 times that of Earth), and was named after the Greek God Zeus, who was the King of the Gods, ruler of Olympus and the patron of the Roman state.
By: Maytinee Kramer
