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Watch the skies tonight for one of the best views of Jupiter! The largest planet in the solar system will make its closest approach to the Earth in 59 years.
Credit: Stellarium Screenshot
At its farthest point, Jupiter is about 600 million miles away from the Earth.
Look up today, and Jupiter will be only about 367 million miles (591,295,396 km) away. Light takes around 32 minutes to travel from Jupiter and arrive to Earth.
All stargazers can enjoy excellent views of Jupiter the entire night of Monday, September 26, 2022. At its closest point, Jupiter will be in opposition to the Earth. What this means is that Jupiter and the Sun will be on opposite sides of the Earth.
It should be noted that Earth and Jupiter are in opposition every 13 months (this is the time needed for the Earth to orbit the Sun relative to Jupiter). This doesn’t mean that Jupiter is always closest to the Earth on the day of opposition as both Earth and Jupiter orbit the sun in non-perfect circles due to which the two planets will usually pass each other at different distances.
Jupiter will appear bright with a magnitude of -2.9 and if you have a good pair of binoculars you should be able to view three or four moons. Jupiter has around 80 known moons and the biggest moons are Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, also called Galilean satellites.
WHERE TO LOOK AND HOW TO SEE JUPITER
Credit: Stellarium Screenshot
Today, Jupiter will appear brighter and bigger making it easier to view. Look up around sunset and you will be able to catch the bright white star ascending in the east with the naked eye.
According to NASA, you will be able to see the equatorial bands and three or four moons with good binoculars. The moons should appear as bright dots on either side of Jupiter if you view them with binoculars.
Credit: Stellarium Screenshot
However, if you want to see the Great Red Spot, you will need a 4 inch-or-larger refracting telescope with some filters in the green to the blue range. The Red Spot is the location of a persistent anticyclonic storm caused by a high-pressure region in the atmosphere of Jupiter located 22 degrees south of the planet’s equator.
This giant planet can be seen for a few days after September 26th. To know the Jupiter rising time at your location see here. Tonight, it will be visible the entire night.
Jupiter will not be this close again until 2129.
