Wednesday September 28, 2022
Today it’s heavily overcast with intermittent showers in the Pacific Northwest, a change from the partly to mostly sunny we’ve had all month. Forecast says we’ll return to dry weather tomorrow.
Clear night skies have been a boon for enjoying the Milky Way and the bright presence of Jupiter lately, brighter by far than anything else on these moonless nights.
Last night we aimed our sketchy telescope at Jupiter to see if we could see it as more than a bright “star”. The planet resolved as a whitish disc (no pretty colors like NASA’s photo above, unfortunately) but much more exciting was the view of three of its moons. First time I’ve seen that in real life. Didn’t get a photo, but this is sort of what it looked like (without the labels obviously):
Note how the moons are all in a line. They revolve around Jupiter in a plane, just like all the planets revolve around the sun. That plane-shaped feature of revolution is a consequence of how orbiting bodies coalesced from interstellar material in the early era of solar system formation. The Khan Academy has a clear succinct description here.
What’s remarkable about this moment in late September 2022 astronomically is that Jupiter is both as close at it gets to earth and also at opposition.
Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, is reaching opposition, an event that occurs when a celestial object rises in the east as the sun sets in the west, putting both the sun and the object on opposite sides of Earth.
But what also makes this special is that the planet will be the closest it has been to Earth in 59 years, meaning it will also be brighter than usual.
While Jupiter's opposition happens roughly every 13 months, it's not common for it to coincide with its closest approach, making this a particularly special treat.
At its farthest, Jupiter can be as far as 966 million kilometres away, but on Monday, it will be about 591 million kilometres from Earth. The last time it was this close was in October 1963. And it won't be this close again until 2129.
Jupiter will be its brightest in 59 years Monday. Here's how to see it for yourself
Jupiter is slowly distancing now from earth but will still be bright for a while. If you have clear sky at night, it’s worth stepping outside after sunset to check out the eastern sky for its presence.
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Cool in the PNW islands today. Overcast, temps in the 50s. Sprinkly.
Folks in the path of the hurricane — stay safe!
Open Thread is now open for your reports of the day.
WHAT’S UP IN NATURE IN YOUR AREA TODAY?