Jupiter looms ahead.tt
See the end note about enlarging illustrations.
The king planet is at west quadrature, in the middle of the night between August 6 and 7 (close to 0 hour Universal Time). This means it is 90 degrees out from the Sun on the morning side.
In the sky scene, which has to be before dawn and is about 10 hours after the instant of west quadrature, you can see that Jupiter has just been passed by the moving point we call “Earth’s direction of motion” – ahead in our orbit around the Sun.
And the Moon, too, is about to collide with this point, because it will be at last-quarter position on August 8, only an hour after passing close north of Jupiter.
Here is Jupiter, or, as the Greeks called him, Zeus. You’ll see more of him in the cover picture for Astronomical Calendar 2024, which I’ve nearly finished preparing.
Ancient statues of Zeus show him either seated on a throne, or holding a sceptre, or hurling a thunderbolt. None of these postures suit my picture, which requires him to be descending toward Earth on one of his gallivants to seduce a mortal maiden. (Mythology required this behavior, to explain the many families that claimed descent from him.) I’ve made my version of the thunderbolt-hurling pose and shall have to twist it into a down-diving pose, directed at his target, who in this case was named Danae.
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This weblog maintains its right to be about astronomy or anything under the sun.
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.
Sometimes I make improvements or corrections to a post after publishing it. If you click on the title, rather than on ‘Read more’, I think you are sure to see the latest version. Or you can click ‘Refresh’ to get the latest version.
When Jupiter is at quadrature to the Sun, Jupiter’s shadow extends farthest from the planet as seen from Earth. At quadrature before solar opposition, Jupiter’s moons pass into eclipse far from Jupiter’s bright limb. This is quite dramatic to observe through a small telescope (Galileo observed eclipses with his little telescope that today would barely be considered a dime store novelty). At quadrature after solar opposition, the moons reappear from eclipse far from Jupiter’s limb, even more dramatic! Sky & Telescope magazine has a table of all of the interactions between Jupiter and the moons for the month — eclipses (a moon is in Jupiter’s shadow), occultations (a moon is hidden behind Jupiter’s disk), transits (a moon is passing in front of Jupiter), and shadow transits (a moon is casting its shadow on Jupiter’s cloud tops). I’m sure this information is also available elsewhere. Moons entering into and emerging from eclipse are the easiest and, in my opinion, most fun to observe.
My previous comment was intended as a response to Ken, but it was posted as an independent comment, not a response.
Patently absurd falsehoods only survive when people pay attention to them. Whether you agree with the content of a web page or not, when you open it in your web browser you increase the likelihood that somebody else will see it in their search results.
Looking forward for the new Astronomical Calendar! Clear skies, all the best!
Guy, you would not believe it! Social media site, Gab.com, many topics are discussed within many groups. One such group is Flatearthers. You have to read some of the comments (posts), such as the Earth is the center of our Universe, thought Galileo was prosecuted by the Catholic Church.
Looking forward to 2024, April 8 as to the last solar eclipse for awhile. Thank you.