Look Up for a Dazzling View of Jupiter This Weekend as It Shines Its Brightest of the Year

More than twice as massive as every other planet in our solar system combined, Jupiter is immense. It measures nearly 11 Earths across and has captured 95 known moons in its gravity—along with thousands of smaller objects. With no solid surface, the planet’s atmosphere is raging, dominated by storms and swirling clouds. This turbulence culminates at its Great Red Spot, a powerful anticyclone where winds scream past at up to 425 miles per hour.

From our perspective, though, all that tumult is reduced to a steady point of light in the cosmos, currently appearing brighter than any star, except for the sun.

This weekend, Jupiter will be at opposition—offering a prime opportunity to see the chaotic gas giant that comes a little less than once per year. Here’s all you need to know to appreciate this special view of the “king of planets” to its fullest.

What is opposition?

A planet at opposition is directly opposite the sun in our skies. That means only the five planets outside Earth’s orbit—Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune—can be at opposition from our perspective.

When this happens, it’s “the best time to see and photograph a planet,” according to Royal Museums Greenwich. The planet will appear its largest and brightest, and it’ll be visible nearly all night long.

At midnight, the planet at opposition will be right above your head—and the sun, on the other side of the Earth, will be right below your feet. Like during a full moon, the entire illuminated face of the planet will be facing toward Earth, making it shine extra brightly in the sky.

Other celestial bodies can also be at opposition, such as asteroids, comets and dwarf planets. Because objects at opposition appear brighter than at any other point in their orbits, oppositions offer the best time for astronomers to discover small asteroids.

How to see Jupiter at opposition

For the “king of planets,” opposition occurs every 13 months. This means that each time it reaches that point, Jupiter is in a different constellation from our perspective. Now, it’s passing through Taurus, the celestial bull. You’ll see the planet between the bright stars Aldebaran (the eye of Taurus), Betelgeuse (the shoulder of Orion) and Capella (the orange “goat star” in the constellation Auriga).

Jupiter at Opposition: December 7, 2024 Mark your calendars! pic.twitter.com/X8Ad8D750G

— Star Walk (@StarWalk) December 3, 2024

To the naked eye, Jupiter will appear as a gleaming point of light—the fourth-brightest object in the sky, behind the sun, moon and Venus (while it’s above the horizon). It will rise in the east-northeast when the sun sets.

Binoculars will dramatically improve your view of the gas giant and even allow you to catch a glimpse of its biggest moons. “With good binoculars, the banding (at least the central band) and three or four of the Galilean satellites (moons) should be visible,” Adam Kobelski, a research astrophysicist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, said in a statement in 2022.

To really level up your observing, a telescope will offer a good view of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, the enormous storm swirling south of its equator. If you don’t own a telescope, you could look for local astronomy events that might offer public sky-watching sessions, where you can peer through a telescope and hear from knowledgeable hobbyists.

If you get to see the planet through a telescope, pay attention to its shape. At opposition, it becomes “very obvious, when at its largest, that Jupiter is a squashed-looking world,” as Anton Vamplew writes for BBC Sky at Night magazine. The planet’s rapid rotation—completing one orbit in just about 9.9 hours—causes it to bulge wider at its equator, giving it an oval appearance.

If weather obstructs your view of Jupiter this weekend, don’t worry—it will still appear large and bright for a few weeks surrounding opposition.

Jupiter reaches its closest point to Earth

Right around the time Jupiter reaches opposition, the planet also moves through its nearest point to Earth.

This week, that moment will occur shortly before opposition: At 6 a.m. Eastern time on December 6, the gas giant will be 380 million miles distant. In 2022, just before Jupiter reached opposition that year, it came closer to Earth than it had been at any other time in the past 59 years—roughly 367 million miles away.

What else to see in the sky

Jupiter isn’t the only planet worthy of observation this weekend. After sunset, Venus will be shining brightly in the western sky. And on Saturday, look just above Venus in the evening to find the moon and Saturn in close proximity, with the gas giant glowing a bright orange.

As a bonus, ahead of next week’s Geminid meteor shower peak, you might see a few stray shooting stars lighting up the sky.

If watching Jupiter shine brilliantly has gotten you excited about planetary oppositions, the good news is you won’t have long to wait for the next one: Mars will reach opposition on January 16, and according to Star Walk, “this is the most anticipated planetary opposition of all.” That’s because Mars oppositions only happen about every 26 months. And because Mars is closer to Earth than the gas giants, it experiences the most dramatic change in size from our perspective.

Carlyn Kranking | | READ MORE

Carlyn Kranking is the assistant web editor for science and innovation.