Jupiter will be closest to Earth in nearly six decades on Monday night, according to A new version From NASA – There is a good chance that you will be able to see the fifth planet from the sun glowing in the night sky from San Francisco Gulf area.
That’s because Jupiter will be in opposition, which means it will be on the far side of Earth from the sun, which happens every 13 months and makes the planet appear larger in the sky than at any other time of the year, said John Reese, a support astronomer at the Lake Observatory on Mt. Hamilton to SFGATE in an email Monday morning.
But this year isn’t like any other — Jupiter will be closer than usual about 367 million miles away, added Ben Bowers, an astronomer at the Chabot Space and Science Center in Auckland. The last time the planet was this close to Earth was in 1963.
“Because this opposition is closer than most, it’s going to be a little brighter,” Burse said. “For people looking at Jupiter through a telescope, Jupiter’s disk will be at its largest apparent size – a size that cannot be seen from Earth.”
The planet will rise as the sun sets and is expected to appear by 7:45 PM PT, although it can be perceived by 7 PM, and will gradually become more visible throughout the night. At about 1 a.m., Reese said, it will move in a southerly direction before reaching west at about 6:15 a.m.
“To the eye, Jupiter would look like a very bright star,” Reese said. “It must be one of the brightest objects in the night sky.”
Saturn and Mars will also be observable on Monday night, and if you have binoculars or a small telescope handy, you’ll be able to see three or four of Jupiter’s moons in Galilee. Jupiter has 53 moons that have been given official names by the International Astronomical Union, but up to 79 in all have been discovered, according to NASA. The four that should be visible are the largest and brightest and are called Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto – or the Galilean satellites, which received their name after Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei first observed them in 1610. There is also a chance that you will be able to see this Jupiter scopes if you have a fixed stand or tripod.
All this on condition that The fog is moving awaysaid David Prosper, director of the Night Sky Network at the Pacific Astronomical Society in San Francisco. Unfortunately, viewing conditions will not be ideal.
“If you had cloud cover last night, you’ll probably get it again tonight,” Roger Gass, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told SFGATE by phone. “It looks like the summer-type Stratos pattern will continue tonight through tomorrow, as the clouds race inland this evening into the night hours as we keep a fairly firm sea layer in place. … It wouldn’t be suitable for stargazing, or planet-gazing, That’s for sure.”
However, if you are trying to peek at the night sky, the higher the altitude, the better. He suggested Mount Diablo or Mount Tamalpais as potential viewing sites in the early evening with the caveat that clouds may roll in later in the night.
But the good news is that although Jupiter will be closest to Earth on Monday night, it will remain similarly close for the next few weeks, so the scenery on Tuesday or later in the week likely won’t be very different, he said.
Gass added that foggy conditions are expected to unfold in the second half of the week. For now, it’s worth taking a look.
“It must be an amazing sight,” Prosper said.
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