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Stargazers should dust off their telescopes as Jupiter is set to put on a show tonight. The largest planet in the solar system will also appear to the naked eye as “a bright star” on the evening of Thursday, August 19. This is because Jupiter will be at “opposition,” meaning that, as Earth passes between the Sun and Jupiter, the planet will appear opposite the Sun.
Bryony Lanigan, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich said: “When a planet is at opposition, it is on the opposite side of the Earth to the Sun – if you were looking down on the Solar System from above and drew a line from Jupiter to the Sun, when Jupiter is at opposition it would pass through the Earth.
“This doesn’t necessarily mean that the planet is at its closest point to the Earth – because of the elliptical nature of planetary orbits, this may occur a day or two either side.”
Ms Lanigan added that planets are usually in opposition for a very short length of time but, during that time, they are visible to the naked eye.
She added: “Jupiter should be visible low above the south-eastern horizon from sunset on the days around opposition on the 19th, but if planet-hunters wait until a few hours after sunset then it will have risen a little higher – around 20-25 degrees altitude – and so will be easier to spot.”
The incredible event takes place just days before the Full Blue Moon on August 22.
Ms Lanigan added: “While the sky will not be fully dark, the Moon will not be intruding too much on astrophotographers’ views.”
And, if lucky, stargazers may even catch a glimpse of Saturn as well.
Ed Bloomer, also a Royal Observatory Greenwich astronomer, said: “Both planets are fairly low on the horizon, so try and find an observation spot free from tall buildings or trees when looking in that direction.
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“If your telescope is really good, perhaps you’ll even make out the swirling clouds of Jupiter’s upper atmosphere.”
To spot Jupiter with the naked eye, look to the left of the full Moon.
You should see two bright dots a few degrees apart, along the ecliptic or the path of the planets and moons in our sky.
Saturn will be just to the left of the Moon, while Jupiter will be even further to the left.
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