Disir
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- Sep 30, 2011
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At 10 p.m. Eastern Time on Sunday (Sept. 25), Jupiter will make its closest approach to the Earth since 1963. It will then be 367,413,405 miles (591,168,168 km) away. This may not seem exactly "close," but Jupiter is so big and bright that it's not only easily visible with the unaided eye, but through a small telescope magnifying only 36-power, it appears as big as the moon does to the unaided eye.
....On Sunday (Sept. 25) for instance, you'll be able to see three moons on one side of Jupiter (Io, Europa and Callisto) with the fourth moon (Ganymede) all by itself on the other side. On Monday (Sept. 26), Ganymede will be joined by Europa and Io; now it's Callisto that will be all by itself on Jupiter's other side. Finally, on Tuesday (Sept. 27) you'll see two moons on one side (Europa and Ganymede) and two (Io and Callisto) on the other.
In fact, at 12:08 a.m. EDT on Wednesday (Sept. 28) (9:08 p.m. Pacific Time on the 27th), Ganymede will appear to cross in front of Jupiter, called a transit. In addition to "The Big Four," Jupiter has 76 other satellites. Many of these are exceptionally small and have been discovered courtesy of space probes which have passed close to Jupiter during the decades of the 1970's, '80's and '90's.
www.space.com
This is going to be awesome.
....On Sunday (Sept. 25) for instance, you'll be able to see three moons on one side of Jupiter (Io, Europa and Callisto) with the fourth moon (Ganymede) all by itself on the other side. On Monday (Sept. 26), Ganymede will be joined by Europa and Io; now it's Callisto that will be all by itself on Jupiter's other side. Finally, on Tuesday (Sept. 27) you'll see two moons on one side (Europa and Ganymede) and two (Io and Callisto) on the other.
In fact, at 12:08 a.m. EDT on Wednesday (Sept. 28) (9:08 p.m. Pacific Time on the 27th), Ganymede will appear to cross in front of Jupiter, called a transit. In addition to "The Big Four," Jupiter has 76 other satellites. Many of these are exceptionally small and have been discovered courtesy of space probes which have passed close to Jupiter during the decades of the 1970's, '80's and '90's.
See Jupiter at its best in the night sky as it nears closest point to Earth since 1963
This marks a rather auspicious week, for we will see Jupiter loom as large and as bright as it ever can get from our earthly vantage point.
www.space.com
This is going to be awesome.
