Today, July 28, Jupiter reaches one of its stationary points; that is, begins the apparent retrograde movement that will bring the great planet to its most conspicuous moment (opposition) as we overtake it on September 26. Here is Jupiter coming into view late in the evening sky:
See the end note about enlarging illustrations.
And here is how its track on the map of the sky is shown in the Jupiter section of Astronomical Calendar 2022:
Each year, Jupiter comes to this phase of its orbit a month later and a constellation farther on along the ecliptic. This year, the retrograde loop takes it back and forth across the celestial equator. Next year’s retrograde loop and opposition will 30° east, in Aries, and Jupiter will be in the northern half of the sky for the next six years.
__________
ILLUSTRATIONS in these posts are made with precision but have to be inserted in another format. You may be able to enlarge them on your monitor. One way: right-click, and choose “View image” or “Open image in new tab”, then enlarge. Or choose “Copy image”, then put it on your desktop, then open it. On an iPad or phone, use the finger gesture that enlarges (spreading with two fingers, or tapping and dragging with three fingers). Other methods have been suggested, such as dragging the image to the desktop and opening it in other ways.
This weblog maintains its right to be about astronomy or anything under the sun.
Saturday night was remarkably clear. I stayed up late and got nice views of Saturn and Jupiter through my 60 mm refractor.
Opposition is the most inconvenient time to get a good look at a planet through a telescope. You have to be up at midnight. It’s much easier around quadrature, when a planet is high in the sky during dawn or evening twilight. The shadows of the planet and its moons and rings (for Saturn) are most interesting around quadrature, too.
Come to think of it, the Moon is most interesting through a telescope or binoculars at every phase except full, but full Moons get all the publicity.
Very good point. Sorry to be late “approving” it, after a week away.
Yes Jupiter is rather prominent in the after midnight sky now.I was camping out in the Pennines in northern England a few nights ago and woke up at an ungodly 0340 but was rewarded by an amazing view of Venus and the crescent Moon in the east just as dawn was coming.Mars and Saturn too either side of Jupiter and Uranus and Neptune will have been around too and we must not forget the Earth at my feet!