Jupiter Shines Bright This Week
Jupiter and its 4 largest moons (Thomas Bresson)
This is a great week to look for Jupiter.
On June 10, our solar system’s largest planet is at opposition or the point it its orbit where it is directly opposite the sun from our vantage point here on Earth.
On June 11, Jupiter will also be at its closest point to Earth of the years. Together, that makes for a big bright Jupiter rising around sunset, reaching the highest point in the sky after midnight and setting sometime around sunrise.
It will still look like a bright point of light, the second brightest in the night sky after the Moon. But a decent pair of binoculars can reveal Jupiter’s four largest moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.
Tonight they line up Ganymede, Europa, Io, and Callisto, with Jupiter in the middle. By Sunday, the lineup shuffles around to Callisto, Ganymede, Io, and Europa all on the left of Jupiter. Check the twitter account @JupiterMoonPos for the current lineup, it tweets every few hours. Speedy Io completes a trip around Jupiter about every 42 hours.
https://twitter.com/JupiterMoonPos/status/1138193374920564736
Category: ALL POSTS, Spacey Stuff
About the Author (Author Profile)
Tony Rice is a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador and the voice and brains behinds the weekly Astronomy Report on the WeatherBrains podcast. He grew up in Southern California where he watched the Space Shuttles being build and landed nearby and was hooked. Tony brings weather and space together to communicate the excitement of space exploration and promote a greater appreciation for Earth sciences.Subscribe
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