The solar system’s most massive planet, Jupiter, will make its closest approach to Earth for 59 years on Sept. 26 even as the gas giant will be directly opposite the sun as viewed from Earth, an astronomical arrangement known as opposition.
Opposition is common for Jupiter, happening every 13 months, and the planet and Earth make close approaches roughly once a year. The arrangement that sees Earth in between the sun and Jupiter rarely coincides with the massive planet’s closest approach to our planet, known as perigee. But on this occasion, opposition occurs on Sept. 26 and closest approach on Sept. 25.
As a result, the gas giant planet will be unusually bright and large in the sky, offering a unique opportunity to view its features. Jupiter should be in a prime position for skywatchers with binoculars or a small telescope for several days surrounding the two milestones. Finding a site with higher elevation, dark skies and dry weather will all improve the planet’s visibility.
“The views should be great for a few days before and after Sept. 26,” Adam Kobelski, a research astrophysicist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, said in a NASA statement (opens in new tab). “So, take advantage of good weather on either side of this date to take in the sight. Outside of the moon, it should be one of the (if not the) brightest objects in the night sky.”
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The planets of the solar system orbit the sun in flattened circles or ellipses, rather than in perfect circles, so Earth and Jupiter cross paths at varying distances.
While Earth takes around 365 days to orbit the sun, Jupiter takes a more leisurely route around the star, completing an orbit every 4,333 Earth days or 12 Earth years.
During next week’s close approach, NASA the gas giant will be around 367 million miles (590 million kilometers) from our planet, according to the NASA statement. At its farthest, Jupiter is about 600 million miles (960 million km) away from Earth. The last time Jupiter was so close to our planet — and the last time skywatchers could see it so large and bright in the sky — was in October 1963.
The favorable alignments mean that some of Jupiter’s most fascinating attributes should be in view from Earth.
“With good binoculars, the banding — at least the central band — and three or four of the Galilean satellites should be visible,” Kobelski said in the statement….
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