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Jupiter is coming closest it’s been to Earth in 59 years on Monday : NPR


A view of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot and the turbulent southern hemisphere was captured by NASA’s Juno spacecraft in 2019.

NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Kevin M. Gill


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NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Kevin M. Gill


A view of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot and the turbulent southern hemisphere was captured by NASA’s Juno spacecraft in 2019.

NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Kevin M. Gill

The gas giant Jupiter is making its closest approach to Earth in 59 years this Monday and will be especially visible as it coincides with another event known as an opposition.

In opposition, a planet is on the opposite side of the Earth from the sun, so you can draw a line from the sun to Earth to Jupiter, all aligned. Jupiter’s opposition occurs every 13 months. Seen from Earth, when the Sun sets in the West, Jupiter will rise in the East, directly opposite. During opposition, the planets appear at their largest and brightest points.

Separately, Jupiter is getting closer to Earth than it has been since 1963. Due to the different orbits of Earth and Jupiter around the sun, they do not pass each other at the same distance. When it’s closest on Monday, Jupiter will be about 367 million miles from Earth, according to NASA. At the furthest, it’s 600 million miles away.

The result of both is that views may be slightly better than usual.

“Jupiter is so bright and brilliant that even in a city, in the middle of a bright city, you have a bright city,” said Alphonse Sterling, a NASA astrophysicist at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. can see it. Alabama. “So I would say it’s a good thing to take advantage of and look at no matter where you are.”

He mentioned that Jupiter is always easily visible in the night sky as long as it is not close to the sun and that it may be difficult for the casual observer to notice any size difference.

Sterling said he was also able to see Jupiter’s largest moons a few days ago with just a pair of 7×50 binoculars (7x magnification with 50mm objective).

NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured this image in 2016 at a distance of 6.8 million miles from Jupiter. The moons of the planets Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto are also visible.

NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS


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NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS


NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured this image in 2016 at a distance of 6.8 million miles from Jupiter. The moons of the planets Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto are also visible.

NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS

Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto are four moons known as the Galilean satellites of Jupiter. The term comes from Galileo Galilei, who discovered them over 400 years ago.

If you don’t have a telescope, you’ll need a way to hold the binoculars firmly in order to see clearly. Sterling says he used a ledge.

“I can definitely see moons, you know, on the side of Jupiter that look like little stars,” he said. “So it’s an exciting thing that can be done. And that’s certainly easier now than if Jupiter were farthest away.”

The Galilean moons are among the 53 named moons of Jupiter, although scientists found 79 Total.

A month ago, NASA new image release of Jupiter and its moons captured by the James Webb Space Telescope. In addition, NASA’s Juno spacecraft has provided excellent images since it began orbiting Jupiter six years ago.

The next time Jupiter comes this close is in the year 2129.



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