Astronomer Pete Lawrence shares expert tips and advice on how to spot Jupiter in opposition this November. <\/p>
Last night, Jupiter, the largest planet in our Solar System, appeared at its best and brightest as it aligned with Earth and the Sun (also known as opposition). But worry if you missed this: tonight the gas giant is still well-placed for observing \u2013 and you\u2019ve probably already noticed Jupiter as a bright point of light, low in the evening sky. <\/p>
So, how can you spot Jupiter in the night sky? How can you tell it’s not a star? And when will it enter opposition again? Here’s all you need to know.<\/p>
Jupiter reached opposition in the morning of\u00a03 November 2023 at 5am in the UK<\/strong> (1am in New York City, 10am on 2 November in Los Angeles). At this time, the Sun<\/a>, the Earth, and Jupiter will be in a perfectly straight line, with Earth in the middle. This is much in the same way that Earth is exactly between the Sun and the Moon during a full Moon<\/a>.<\/p> Don’t worry if you missed this \u2013 Jupiter is still easy to stop days after opposition.<\/p> If you\u2019ve looked up at the night sky recently, you\u2019ve probably already spotted Jupiter in the run-up to opposition:<\/p> \u201cJupiter is the largest planet in our Solar System, 11 times larger than Earth. It\u2019s now dominant in the night sky,\u201d explains veteran astronomer and BBC Sky at Night<\/em> presenter, Pete Lawrence<\/a>.<\/p> \u201cIf clear, Jupiter currently shines brighter than all other objects around it, save for the Moon when about. Jupiter reaches opposition on 3 November when it\u2019ll appear at its brightest and best for 2023,\u201d Lawrence notes.<\/p> In astronomy, opposition refers to the alignment of a planet (or the Moon) with the Earth and the Sun. During opposition, these three celestial bodies are positioned in a perfectly straight line, with the Earth in the middle.<\/p> \u201cOpposition describes an object being opposite the Sun in the sky. For some planets this can be a big deal, the weeks around opposition giving us our best views of them. At opposition, a planet is also visible all night long,\u201d explains Lawrence.<\/p> This means that during opposition, Jupiter is fully illuminated by the Sun, so it appears particularly bright and easily visible in the night sky. Opposition provides an excellent opportunity to observe, study and photograph the planet’s features, as it\u2019s well-illuminated and easily seen. And, because it\u2019s opposite the Sun, Jupiter will remain above the horizon all night.<\/p> Only planets beyond Earth’s orbit can be in opposition. These are Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Because Mercury and Venus are orbiting the Sun inside Earth\u2019s orbit, Earth will never be positioned between Mercury or Venus and the Sun, and therefore these two planets can never go into opposition.<\/p> Jupiter is relatively easy to spot, even for the beginner. It\u2019s currently one of the brightest objects in the night sky, and can be seen all night long.<\/p> Jupiter will rise in the constellation Aries. It\u2019s a dim constellation, so can be a little tricky to locate. First, look towards the Pleiades star cluster<\/a>, a cute little asterism packed full of baby stars in the Taurus constellation<\/a> (November is actually the best time to view the Pleiades), and look for a crooked line of three stars nearby. This is Aries, and you\u2019ll easily be able to identify a bright Jupiter loitering below the constellation.<\/p> Expert Pete Lawrence shares his top tips for viewing Jupiter:<\/p> \u201cJupiter is wonderful to view with a bit of optical aid. Let\u2019s start small with binoculars. Here, steadiness is key. One trick is to use a household broom, inverted so the brush is pointing up, the handle tip on the ground. You can steady the binoculars against the brush, using a cloth or towel over the broom head to keep yourself clean,\u201d Lawrence says.<\/p> But it\u2019s not just the planet you\u2019ll be able to see with binoculars:<\/p> \u201cWith a steadier view, focus as accurately as you can. The planet has many moons \u2013 95 at the last count. However, only four are large and bright enough to see easily with a small kit. Orbiting the planet, their positions relative to Jupiter vary. When separated from Jupiter they should be visible through steadied binoculars,\u201d he says.<\/p> Here are some tips to help you spot Jupiter in opposition:<\/p> If you’re still struggling to spot Jupiter, there are\u00a0astronomy apps<\/a>\u00a0that you can download – all you need to do is point your phone at the sky, and the app will tell you what you\u2019re looking at.<\/p> If you look at Jupiter through a telescope, it may appear squashed, bulging at the equator. This is down to the fast spin of the planet; it takes less than 10 hours for it to complete one rotation. It\u2019s the fastest spinning planet in the Solar System, and subsequently, has the shortest day of all the planets in the Solar System.<\/p> \u201cWith a small telescope, the moons appear clearer, and Jupiter appears as a disc. Relax and take time to let your eye get used to the view. Eventually, you\u2019ll see the two dark belts which encircle the planet\u2019s globe parallel to its equator; the north and south equatorial belts<\/a> (NEB and SEB),\u201d explains Lawrence.<\/p> \u201cNotice also that the planet\u2019s disc isn\u2019t round but appears squashed. This is because Jupiter is a rapidly spinning gas planet, one day on Jupiter being less than 10 hours long!\u201d<\/p> \u201cIf you have a 100mm or larger telescope and if the timing is right, you may see an oval patch embedded within the SEB. This is the Great Red Spot<\/a>, a persistent anticyclonic storm in Jupiter\u2019s atmosphere which may have been around for at least 358 years.\u201d<\/p> All of the planets in our Solar System go into opposition on a roughly annual basis. This is because Earth has a faster orbit, passing between these planets and the Sun.<\/p> \u201cFor superior planets (larger orbits than Earth) the effect of opposition decreases with distance,\u201d says Lawrence.<\/p> There is, however, one exception to this rule: Mars<\/a>. Mars reaches opposition\u00a0every 26 months<\/a>, because it takes Earth a bit less than two years to \u2018lap\u2019 Mars in their respective orbits. This regular pattern makes Mars reach opposition about every 26 months.<\/p> \u201cNearby Mars reaches opposition every 2.1 years. Most of the time it appears small and distant, but for a few months either side of opposition Mars becomes bright, and through a telescope, its size increases noticeably. The next opposition of Mars is in January 2025,\u201d Lawrence adds.<\/p> Jupiter goes into opposition every 13 months.<\/p> Jupiter is currently in the dim constellation of Aries the Ram, and is slowly making its way towards Taurus the Bull<\/a>.<\/p> Jupiter resides within the zodiac band of the sky, and it moves through approximately 1\/12 of its orbit every year, making a single orbit around 12 years.<\/p> That means it takes around 12 months for Jupiter to travel across one of the zodiac constellations and move on to the next. Jupiter goes into opposition roughly every 13 months, and the gas giant will pass through all the zodiac constellations over a period of 12 years.<\/p> Before going into opposition, Jupiter will look as though it\u2019s moving backwards for a time, and this is called apparent retrograde motion<\/a>. Prior to the 2023 opposition, Jupiter entered retrograde in September. Here is what Jupiter has been up to this year:<\/p> Jupiter will appear bright in the night sky during opposition. In fact, it will appear much brighter than Sirius, the brightest star in the sky.<\/p> Astronomers use \u2018magnitude\u2019 to describe how bright objects in the night sky appear. The lower the magnitude number, the brighter the object. <\/p> For example, a star with a magnitude of 1 is brighter than a star with a magnitude of 5. It’s a logarithmic scale, meaning each whole number increase represents a decrease<\/em> in brightness by a factor of about 2.5. If an object has a minus number, then it\u2019s very bright and easy to spot with the naked eye.<\/p> Back in September when Jupiter entered into retrograde, it was already bright at magnitude -2.48. Now as we approach opposition, and being fully illuminated by the Sun, it will reach magnitude -2.76. <\/p> For comparison, the brightest star in the night sky is Sirius, which shines at magnitude -1.4.<\/p> Pete Lawrence\u00a0<\/strong>is an experienced astronomer and astrophotographer, and a presenter on BBC’s The Sky at Night<\/em>.<\/p> Read more:<\/strong><\/p> Astronomer Pete Lawrence shares expert tips and advice on how to spot Jupiter in opposition this November. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":35800,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"8"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/11\/jupiter-in-opposition-2023-how-to-see-the-gas-giant-at-its-biggest-and-brightest-tonight.jpg",1280,853,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/11\/jupiter-in-opposition-2023-how-to-see-the-gas-giant-at-its-biggest-and-brightest-tonight-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/11\/jupiter-in-opposition-2023-how-to-see-the-gas-giant-at-its-biggest-and-brightest-tonight-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/11\/jupiter-in-opposition-2023-how-to-see-the-gas-giant-at-its-biggest-and-brightest-tonight-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/11\/jupiter-in-opposition-2023-how-to-see-the-gas-giant-at-its-biggest-and-brightest-tonight-1024x682.jpg",800,533,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/11\/jupiter-in-opposition-2023-how-to-see-the-gas-giant-at-its-biggest-and-brightest-tonight.jpg",1280,853,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/11\/jupiter-in-opposition-2023-how-to-see-the-gas-giant-at-its-biggest-and-brightest-tonight.jpg",1280,853,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Astronomer Pete Lawrence shares expert tips and advice on how to spot Jupiter in opposition this November.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/35799"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What is opposition?<\/strong><\/h2>
How can I spot Jupiter in the sky?<\/strong><\/h2>
What will Jupiter look like through a telescope?<\/strong><\/h2>
How often do oppositions occur?<\/strong><\/h2>
What constellation is Jupiter in?<\/strong><\/h2>
How bright will Jupiter get?<\/strong><\/h2>
When are the planets next in opposition?<\/strong><\/h2>
About our Expert<\/strong><\/h2>
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"