This weekend is your chance to see the solar system’s largest planet, which shines brightest all year.
After dominating the night sky for more than a month, Jupiter will reach opposition this Saturday (January 10). This marks the point in time when Earth will be directly between Jupiter and the Sun, and the gas giant will be on the opposite side of Earth’s sky from our star. The result is an unmissable glow in the eastern evening sky that shines all night long. With a magnitude of -2.7, Jupiter will outshine any star for many weeks.
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Shining near the bright stars Pollux and Castor in the constellation Gemini, Jupiter’s opposition rises at sunset, climbs highest around midnight, and sets at dawn, making it the best time to see this giant planet. This is a great opportunity for both beginners and experienced skywatchers to get a special view of the “King of the Planets.”
How to see Jupiter and its satellites
There’s nothing you need more than a clear sky to marvel at Jupiter’s dominance at night. But even modest binoculars (8×42 or 10×50) show that Jupiter is more than just a bright dot. A small stable disk and the planet’s four largest moons, Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, are visible. Known as Galilean moons, they appear as tiny dots of light lined up next to the planet and change position each night.
The view becomes even more impressive with a small telescope. Use the low power eyepiece to center Jupiter in your field of view, then switch to high power. You should see two or more dark cloud bands across the planet’s disk, a sign of Jupiter’s powerful jet stream. Under stable atmospheric conditions, the famous Great Red Spot, the giant storm that has been raging on Jupiter for about 190 years, may also become visible in Jupiter’s southern hemisphere.
While Jupiter is getting all the attention, Saturn is also visible in the evening sky, hanging low in the southwest after sunset. Although it is now dimmer, its iconic ring can be seen through a telescope, a delight for observers.
Jupiter is in a position suitable for evening observation from January to February. This is an ideal time to observe it under dark skies before it gradually moves westward in the coming months.
Jupiter does not disappear even at opposition. On June 9th, it will form a spectacular triple conjunction with Venus and Mercury in the dusk sky. Then, on November 15th, it will meet Mars in a spectacular close encounter just before sunrise.
The next Jupiter opposition will occur on February 6, 2027.
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