Posted on 05/08/2018 12:44:46 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Jupiter is in opposition today, meaning it’s exactly opposite the sun in the sky, like the Moon when it’s full. The gas giant will be brighter than any star in the sky. I was able to see the bands of gas and dust and the four brightest moons, Ganymede, Callisto, Europa, and Io, with a small telescope. Two of the moons were even visible from my Brooklyn apartment with my budget binoculars (these guys).
You should look at it.
The planet will actually be closest to Earth on May 10, according to EarthSky.com. The opposition doesn’t line up with the closest approach because the two planets’ orbits aren’t perfect circles in perfect alignment.
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According to Facebook, it will be so close to us, you’ll be able to drive onto it.
I hope it doesn’t morph into a star while I’m looking at it.
Brighter than any star, but,not as bright as Venus.
Not even close.
Still, hope to get a look this weekend.
If you’re really lucky, maybe it will swallow a comet.
Jupiter is fun to watch and usually easy to find. Having a clock drive is useful, because it will scoot across your telescope’s field of view as the earth rotates underneath it.
Yes, I wonder how guys like Galileo managed to see so much of Jupiter as like you said, it moves across a telescope of any power before you can make out much.
I might go out with a 22X spotting scope tho you can’t make out much detail with it. It is a high quality ED glass scope and I can make out the rings of Saturn tho it still appears tiny.
Made me realize how far away it was...
I felt the distance...
Joke, Yes I know that email that goes around every year is wrong
I’ve noticed that it seemed to be brighter these last few weeks.
Troublemaker alert!
:-)
Jupiter is the planet that consistently shows the most detail in amateur telescopes. However, even at high magnification Jupiter will only look about the size of some of the medium sized craters on the Moon. On any given night you'd be able to see a few cloud bands, the 4 Galilean Moons, and maybe the Great Red Spot. Jupiter is easy to find (when visible) as it is among the brightest objects in the night sky.
“Brighter than any star, but, not as bright as Venus.”
Saw it on a camp out in a VERY dark sky area on Saturday and it was definitely brighter than Venus. It was so bright it’s color was noticeably red and I thought it was Mars until I check star charts. And it was way more bright than Mars usually is.
“The first time I saw Jupiter with binoculars strong enough to see the moons...it took my breath away for a second... “
I saw the moons with 10X binocs three days ago.
ping
Not quite.
Jupiter is -2.5 mag right now
Venus is -3.9
Venus is lower, but, more than 5 times brighter than Jupiter right now.
Not much light pollution in 1615 Venice.
I was thinking the same thing. Jupiter in is a darker part of the sky when they are visible together. Jupiter is vivid bright red in the eastern sky as Venus is setting after the sun.
“If you’re really lucky, maybe it will swallow a comet.”
It took some BIG bruises it the last time it tried that stunt.
“The first time I saw Jupiter with binoculars strong enough to see the moons...it took my breath away for a second...Made me realize how far away it was...”
It was even a much bigger deal when Galileo pointed his first telescope at Jupiter and saw the moons. For the first time in human history, man discovered that we were NOT the Center of the Universe (except for maybe Hillary), and, instead, that planet far away had it’s own little community.
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