On Sunday (September 11), Jupiter and the Moon will approach each other across the sky and share the same right ascension, an astronomical arrangement known as a conjunction.
The moon will pass in the evening sky to within about one degree south of Jupiter, and both objects will be visible in front of the constellation Pisces. From New York, the conjunction of the Moon and Jupiter appears at about seven degrees above the eastern horizon, starting at about 20:37 ET (0037 GMT on September 12). (An arm-length fist is about 10 degrees in the sky.)
At around 1:57 am ET (0547 GMT) on Sunday (September 12), the conjunction will reach its highest point in the sky – 49 degrees above the southern horizon. The Moon-Jupiter conjunction will continue to be visible until about 6:13 a.m. ET (1013 GMT), at which time both will disappear at about 19 degrees above the western horizon at dawn.
Related: Night Sky, September 2022: What You Can See Tonight [maps]
Due to the wide angular separation of the Moon and Jupiter during this conjunction, the event is not visible in a telescope’s field view. This means that Sunday’s conjunction is best seen with the naked eye or binoculars. A clear, dark sky is an advantage when spotting the conjunction.
Related: Best Binoculars 2022: Top Picks for Stargazing, Wildlife and More
The moon moves quickly through the night sky compared to other cosmological bodies, passing each constellation about once a month. Jupiter makes a much slower transit of the constellations, transiting about one per year.
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and is approximately 484 million miles from our star. It’s also by far the largest planet in the solar system, massively dwarfing the moon despite being dimmer in the night sky over Earth.
It would take about 1,300 “Earths” to fill the volume of Jupiter. So if about 50 moons fit into our planet’s volume, that means the gas giant could potentially fit about 65,000 moons into its volume.
NASA says it would take 11 Earths to orbit the diameter of Jupiter, and if our planet were the size of a grape, this gas giant would be a basketball by comparison, and the moon would be about the size of a garden pea.
Although made up of dense gas, Jupiter is so massive that it is estimated to be more than twice the mass of all the other planets in the solar system combined.
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Seen with the naked eye from Earth’s surface, Jupiter appears as a bright white point of light visible at dusk, brighter than even the brightest star in the night sky – Sirius. Despite this, Jupiter is still dimmer than Venus.
Jupiter’s four largest moons — or moons of Jupiter — Ganymede, Europa, Io, and Callisto, would also be visible to the naked eye from Earth were it not for their proximity to the gas giant and the light it reflects “washed out.” the light they reflect.
The larger of Jupiter’s more than 75 moons can be seen with binoculars or a small telescope through which Jupiter appears as a white disk.
A more powerful instrument or closer inspection reveals that Jupiter is banded across its surface with prominent streaks and whorls. These are clouds and winds of ammonia and water that coil around the gas giant planet’s atmosphere, which is mostly composed of hydrogen and helium.
Jupiter’s surface is marked by massive storms, the most notable of which is the “Great Red Spot.” This storm that has raged for over 100 years and penetrates deep enough into Jupiter’s atmosphere that it could engulf the entire Earth.
Conjunctions between the moon and the planets occur about once a month at about the same time. The next conjunction of the Moon and Jupiter will be in the evening of October 8th until the morning of October 9th next month.
In our guides you will find the best binoculars and telescopes to spot the conjunction of the Moon and Jupiter. If you’re hoping to capture a good photo of Jupiter or the moon, check out our recommendations for the best cameras for astrophotography and the best lenses for astrophotography.
Editor’s note: If you take a picture of the Moon and Jupiter and would like to share it with Space.com readers, send your photos, comments, and your name and location to [email protected].
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