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Get out about 45 minutes after sunset on Saturday night (August 21) and with just one glance you will be able to participate in a gathering of the moon and the largest planet in our solar system, very low in the sky. east-south-east.
Assuming your sky is reasonably clear, you will be able to see the moon pass near the planet Jupiter. At approximately 10:30 p.m. local time, the eye-catching celestial duo will be visible, about a quarter of the southeast horizon to the point directly above (called the zenith). The moon will be less than 12 hours from its official peak and will be located at the bottom right of Jupiter, at a distance of approximately 5 degrees.
This is roughly ten times the apparent size of the moon, which means you should be able to place at least 10 full moons in the space between them in the Saturday night sky. And yet, when you see them in the sky, they will apparently be much closer to each other, for the moon normally appears twice as large to our eyes than its half-degree size would otherwise suggest; indeed, an incredible illusion!
Related: Jupiter is at its peak and peak this week
Orion GoScope II 70 Lunar Telescope Kit: $ 89.99 at Amazon
If you know a youngster who never tires of the moon, they’ll be delighted with the views through the Orion GoScope II. Revealing craters and seas up close, this tiny telescope comes complete with a carrying case and moon map.
Show this “dynamic duo” to your friends on Saturday night and ask them to estimate how many moons could fit in the gap between Jupiter and the moon. Their answer will probably be something like “Four … maybe five”. Then watch the look of disbelief spreading across their faces as you reveal the correct answer is closer to 10.
An illusion of perspective
Keep in mind that what you will see on Saturday night is all about perspective. Jupiter is 373 million miles (600 million kilometers) from Earth, while the Moon is only 233,000 miles (375,000 km). As a result, the moon appears to be moving much faster (its own diameter per hour) over the starry background compared to the giant planet.
But on Saturday night, they will be lined up as seen from our earthly perspective to make them appear as eye-catching views in our sky.
And because of its faster movement, Saturday night the moon will change its position quite noticeably relative to Jupiter. Right after sunset, Jupiter will appear at the top left of the moon. At 1 a.m. local time, Jupiter will “be” on top of the moon, appearing almost directly above it. And by 5 a.m. on Sunday morning, as the two of them are about to call it a low night in the west-southwest sky, Jupiter will have moved to a position in the upper right of the moon.
A red spot and four more moons to see
If you have a high powered telescope or binoculars, be sure to aim at Jupiter, a main attraction best seen between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. when it’s high in the sky and its image reasonably calm. .
Jupiter was in opposition to the sun during the night of August 19-20, meaning it was at its biggest and brightest of the year. As such, you can observe Jupiter from dusk to dawn for the remainder of this month. Dark belts, light bands and many other features (sometimes called “garlands” and “swags”).
Over the past 30 years or so, Jupiter’s famous Big Red Spot has grown from an oval shape to a more circular shape, while still displaying a plush reddish-orange coloring. It will appear almost at a standstill on Jupiter’s disk around 11:00 p.m. EDT on Saturday night (3:00 a.m. Sunday, August 22 GMT).
And the four brilliant Galilean moons of Jupiter are still performing well. They look like little stars, although two of them are definitely bigger than our own moon. It is indeed possible to see them change position relative to each other from hour to hour and from night to night.
In fact, if you look at Jupiter with a small telescope or even tightly held binoculars on Saturday night, you’ll see these four big satellites. On one side of Jupiter will be the moons Callisto and Io (much closer to Jupiter), while on the other side you can see the larger of the four (Ganymede) and the smaller (Europa) engaged in a movement incredibly tight conjunction. The two will appear closest to each other around 11:30 p.m. EDT (03:30 GMT), when Europa passes less than 3 arc seconds over Ganymede – so close together that low-powered binoculars and telescopes will show them probably as a single object. But only a few hours before and after that hour, both should be easily seen in smaller instruments.
And if the clouds obscure your view of Jupiter and the moon, you’ll have another chance to see them close to each other again on September 17th and 18th.
Editor’s Note: If you take an amazing photo of Jupiter and the moon in August 2021 and want to share it for a story or photo gallery, send images and comments to [email protected]!
Joe Rao is an instructor and guest speaker at New York’s Hayden Planetarium. He writes on astronomy for Journal of natural history, the Farmers Almanac and other publications. Follow us on twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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