Jupiter blazes bright in the Pocono night sky this October | Looking Up
If you're at all interested in things astronomical, people might ask you what's that "big star" in the east. It's not the Star of Bethlehem. This is Jupiter, the largest of our solar system's planets.
Factors about its orbit have come together this season to bring Jupiter nearly as near as it gets, making it brighter for all to see, and bigger for anyone with even a small telescope. It's in the east in the evening; around midnight, catch the planet due south. Jupiter is up all night, and is setting low in the west as dawn begins.
Like the other planets, Jupiter's orbit is not perfectly circular. On September 26 Jupiter reached "opposition" which is when it lines up with Earth and the Sun, rising around sunset and setting around sunrise. This happened only four months before Jupiter reached its closest point in its 12-year orbit around the Sun, known as "perihelion."
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These circumstances have brought Jupiter only about 367 million miles from Earth, a lot on anyone's odometer to be sure but almost half the distance when Jupiter is at its farthest.
Jupiter has not been this close since October 1963 and won't be again for more than a hundred years— on October 7, 2129.
How bright is it? Jupiter is currently about magnitude -2.9, brighter than any star in the night sky. Among the planets, only Venus may be brighter, but is only seen in the east before sunrise or west after sunset owing to being closer to the Sun than we are. Jupiter is farther out, and glows like a beacon all night.
Jupiter is a massive planet, 88,846 miles wide at the equator, nearly 11 times the size of Earth. This year it appears larger than usual, but still appears like a brilliant star to eyes alone.
Binoculars (magnifying 7x or more) will show it as a tiny white disc. Make sure to steady the binoculars on a tripod or firmly against the edge of the house, fence post or anything sturdy.
In even a small telescope at 40x or more you can readily see how the top and bottom of Jupiter appear squat. This is due to the gaseous planet's rapid rotation, making its atmosphere bulge at the equator. Though it's so big, the planet spins once every 9 hours, 55 minutes.
Using 100x or more, you should be able to easily see the two parallel, dark equatorial cloud belts; with good optics, very steady air and experience you may see finer belts and bands and spots in the planet's cloud deck including Jupiter's famous Great Red Spot, a centuries-old hurricane bigger than Earth.
Jupiter's four largest moons probably catch the most attention. One or two may be visible in binoculars. A small telescope is enough to see all four.
They change positions from night to night. You might only see three moons. Often, at least one may be crossing in front of the planet or behind, or ducked in Jupiter's shadow. At times an inky-black dot may be seen on Jupiter's clouds, the shadow of a transiting moon.
Jupiter continues to be explored close-up by spacecraft and observatories on Earth and in space. NASA's Juno probe has been circling Jupiter since June 2016 just above Jupiter's atmosphere. Even so, just looking at this "bright planet in the east" or looking at the planet through any size backyard telescope is as fascinating as ever.
Read more about Jupiter's close approach at: go.nasa.gov/3dRerGv
More wonders in the sky
Jupiter by far is not the only wonder in the skies of October 2022. In the early evening Saturn is in the southeast. The Moon, which is at first quarter on October 1, is waxing all week towards full phase on October 9 when it is known as Hunter's Moon.
Mark your calendar for the predawn hours of October 21, when the Orionid meteor shower is at its peak. Under a dark and open sky, you might see 10 or 20 meteors an hour emanating from the direction of the constellation Orion.Keep looking up at the stars!
This article originally appeared on Tri-County Independent: Looking Up: Jupiter blazes bright in October's night sky
