According to NASA, Jupiter will make its closest approach to Earth in 59 years.
The largest planet in our solar system, the gas giant, said Trina L Rey, deputy science director for the Europa Clipper mission at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., which means Earth is directly between it and the sun.
A spokesman for the US space agency NASA said that the space agency originally said that Jupiter will approach its closest point to Earth in 70 years, but corrected its statement after the error was discovered.
According to NASA, there will be about 367 million miles between Earth and Jupiter. The space agency said that Jupiter is about 600 million miles from our home planet at its furthest point.
Jupiter encounters approximately every 13 months, which is the length of time it takes Earth to orbit the sun in relation to Jupiter, according to EarthSky.
Neither Earth nor Jupiter orbits the sun in a perfect circle, which makes each opposition a slightly different distance, said Ray, who is also a NASA research scientist for European Evaluation and Sounding Radar: Ocean to Near Surface, or REASON.
how to watch
NASA said that Jupiter will appear brighter and larger in the sky, making the event a great chance to catch a glimpse.
The gaseous planet will rise near sunset and will appear pearly white to the naked eye, said Patrick Hartigan, professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University in Houston.
With binoculars or a telescope, you’ll be able to see the planet’s ranges, according to NASA.
Ray said a stargazer may also be able to see three or four of Jupiter’s moons, including Europa.
“Since I’m working on a spacecraft we will send it to the Jupiter system to explore Europe,” she said. “I’m always excited to see Jupiter and even Europe with my own eyes.”
To get a specific time to look at the sky, use the Old Farmer’s Almanac’s visible planetary calculator.
Hartigan said that Saturn and Mars will also be visible, so try to spot those planets while watching Jupiter’s opposition.
Remaining events in 2022
Three more full moons will occur this year, according to the farmer’s calendar:
October 9: Hunter’s Moon
November 8: Beaver Moon
December 7: Cold Moon
Native American tribes have various names for the full moon, such as the Cheyenne tribe’s “dry grass moon” for which occurs in September, and the Arapahoe tribe’s “dry grass moon” for the full moon which occurs in December.
Find out the peak meteor shower events coming later this year, according to EarthSky’s 2022 meteor shower guide:
Draconids: October 8-9
Orionids: October 20-21
South Torres: November 5
North Torres: November 12
Leonids: 17-18 November
Geminids: December 13-14
Ursids: December 22-23
There will be another total lunar and partial solar eclipses in 2022, according to the Farmer’s Almanac. A partial solar eclipse on October 25 will be visible to people in parts of Greenland, Iceland, most of Europe, northeastern Africa, and western and central Asia.
The total lunar eclipse on November 8 can be seen in Asia, Australia, the Pacific, South America and North America between 3:02 and 8:56 a.m. ET. But for people in eastern North America, the moon will be setting during that time.
Wear proper eclipse glasses to view a solar eclipse safely because sunlight can damage the eyes.
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