Jupiter will rule the sky tonight
Rejoice, amateur astronomers: On Tuesday, Jupiter will shine like never before.
The fifth planet will be at its most visible from Earth on Tuesday night, Space reported. Its brightness in the night sky means that it will even be visible to the naked eye — although you'll have a better chance of seeing the detailed features of the gas giant if you have a telescope.
Jupiter's brightness is due to a phenomenon called opposition, which occurs when a planet is directly on the opposite side of the sky as the sun when observed from Earth. This means that Jupiter will rise right around the same time as sunset, and set at about sunrise. It's expected to rise at 7:48 p.m. ET, but because of the brightness around twilight, it may not be visible until the sky fully darkens. Jupiter is expected to set at 5:58 a.m. ET on May 9, just a short time after the sunrise.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Because planetary orbits aren't perfect circles, Jupiter's brightest night doesn't mean that it's at its closest to Earth, Space explained. Thursday, May 10, is when Jupiter will reach its closest point, at about 365 million miles away. With the aid of a telescope, you may still be able to catch sight of the planet, as well as its four largest moons, for the next few days.
Read more at Space.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Shivani is the editorial assistant at TheWeek.com and has previously written for StreetEasy and Mic.com. A graduate of the physics and journalism departments at NYU, Shivani currently lives in Brooklyn and spends free time cooking, watching TV, and taking too many selfies.
-
Why are home insurance prices going up?
Today's Big Question Climate-driven weather events are raising insurers' costs
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
'All too often, we get caught up in tunnel vision'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
2024: the year of legacy media failures
In the Spotlight From election criticism to continued layoffs, the media has had it rough in 2024
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
US won its war on 'murder hornets,' officials say
Speed Read The announcement comes five years after the hornets were first spotted in the US
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Dark energy data suggest Einstein was right
Speed Read Albert Einstein's 1915 theory of general relativity has been proven correct, according to data collected by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
New DNA tests of Pompeii dead upend popular stories
Speed Read An analysis of skeletal remains reveals that some Mount Vesuvius victims have been wrongly identified
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
NASA's Europa Clipper blasts off, seeking an ocean
Speed Read The ship is headed toward Jupiter on a yearslong journey
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Detailed map of fly's brain holds clues to human mind
Speed Read This remarkable fruit fly brain analysis will aid in future human brain research
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Blind people will listen to next week's total eclipse
Speed Read While they can't see the event, they can hear it with a device that translates the sky's brightness into music
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Melting polar ice is messing with global timekeeping
Speed Read Ice loss caused by climate change is slowing the Earth's rotation
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
An amphibian that produces milk?
speed read Caecilians, worm-like amphibians that live underground, produce a milk-like substance for their hatchlings
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published