Moon and Jupiter

June 14, 2019

Father’s Day pairs up with a full moon this year. And if that’s not enough to rile your superstitions, whatever they are, there’s another coincidence on Sunday night… Jupiter will be right next door.

On Sunday, the moon will rise in the southeastern sky just before sundown, which makes perfect sense because when it’s full, it’s opposite the sun from the Earth. Rising just ahead of it is Jupiter, which is bright enough to see even if the sun is out. For your best experience, go out around 10pm. Then the moon and Jupiter will be high enough to the southeast, and the sun will be far enough below the horizon that both will be very easy to spot. Of course, the moon is obvious… it’s… the MOON. Jupiter is that bright, untwinkling star next to it. And Jupiter is in a very special place right now. This past week, it was at opposition, which means the sun, the Earth, and Jupiter are in a straight line. This means it’s at its brightest for the year. But there’s something else at work as well… Every 13 months, the Earth and Jupiter reach a point in their orbits where we’re as close to each other as we can be… less than 400 million miles. That’s quite a coincidence. And it means that Jupiter is about as bright now as it can ever be. So be sure to have a look if you can. A small telescope or even binoculars could show you its four Galilean moons. Normally binoculars wouldn’t be much help to see the moons, but this isn’t a normal time. That said, you’ll definitely have better luck with a telescope.

And don’t worry if you miss it this weekend. Bright Jupiter sweeps across the southern evening sky  all summer.