‘Jupiter’ gazing at its best with spectacular visibility today
3 min readDr S A Mohan Krishna
Mysuru: ‘Jupiter’ is the most resplendent bluish-yellow planet in the solar system will prolong to dominate the night sky during September and October 2022. Jupiter, monster planet, is reaching ‘Opposition’ on September 26. ‘Opposition’ is the astronomical occurrence when a planet farther from the Sun than Earth appears opposite the Sun in the sky. Justifiably, this is the best time to observe a planet. Jupiter, the fifth planet from the Sun, will be at a close opposition, providing an excellent opportunity to observe this planet.
On September 26, Jupiter will be nearest to Earth and could be the brightest celestial object on that day. Today, the distance between Earth and Jupiter will be about 591 million kilometers. After 60 years, this has been a close encounter between Earth and Jupiter.
Jupiter is the second brightest planet after Venus. A few weeks before and after the opposition on September 26, 2022, Jupiter will be very bright, reaching a visual magnitude of about -2.9. This will be a good time to observe Jupiter, its Great Red Spot and Jupiter’s four largest satellites namely Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.
A telescope with a magnification of 40 times or above is preferred in observing Jupiter. Visual magnitude is a measure of the brightness of a celestial object. The visual magnitude of a faint star is large and positive. The brighter a star is, the smaller the visual magnitude will be. In a clear night, the faintest stars that can be observed by naked eyes in the countryside would have a magnitude of around +6.
In September, our beloved planet Earth comes closest to Jupiter for the entire year, and Jupiter, in turn, blazes most brightly in our sky, outshining the night’s brightest stars by leaps and bounds. Today, Earth in its orbit swings between the Sun and Jupiter, an event that’s called an opposition of Jupiter. At this time Jupiter stands opposite the Sun in our sky, so it rises in the east at sunset and sets in the west at sunrise. Jupiter not only beams at its brilliant best for the year, but stays out all night long!
Jupiter was visible in the morning sky from the first week of May just before sunrise in the constellation ‘Sagittarius’ in which it remains almost throughout the year. Presently, Jupiter is clearly perceptible in the east at about 8 PM from all parts of the country. Jupiter revolves around the Sun with a period of about 11.86 years. In ancient China, the year was counted according to the position of Jupiter on the celestial sphere, and matched to the 12 Earthly Branches.
So Jupiter is also known as the Age Star. Opposition of Jupiter will occur about once every 399 days. Absolutely no telescope is required to enjoy the pulchritude of Jupiter. Jupiter is effortlessly discernible, as a bright watermelon-colored star rising in the East after sunset, can be found virtually overhead at midnight, and sets in the West at dawn. The gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn will be closely noticeable in the night sky. Do not forget to watch Jupiter on September 26 and do enjoy the joy of star watching.
– Team Mysoorunews
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