Jupiter Rising

Jupiter is climbing away from the Sun, moving a little higher into the dawn sky day by day. Right now, it’s quite low in the east as twilight paints the sky. But it’s also quite bright, so if you have a clear horizon, you’ll be able to pick it out. Despite appearances, Jupiter isn’t really close to the Sun at all. It looks close only because of the relative positions of Jupiter and Earth. As seen from Earth, Jupiter passed behind the Sun in late July, so it was hidden in the Sun’s glare for several weeks. But Earth follows a smaller, faster orbit around the Sun. Now, we’re looping around toward Jupiter. We’ll catch up to it and pass it next February. So Jupiter will rise earlier and remain in view longer every day until then. Jupiter repeats this cycle every 13 months. In other words, wherever it appears in the sky now, it’ll be in a similar position 13 months later. But it won’t appear against the same background of stars. It takes Jupiter almost 12 years to orbit the Sun, so it takes that long for it to complete one full circle through the constellations. On average, it shifts eastward by about one constellation per year. So while it’s currently in Cancer, by the next time it graces the dawn sky, next September, it’ll be one constellation over, in Leo. Again, look for Jupiter low in the east during the dawn twilight, and climbing higher into the sky morning by morning. Script by Damond Benningfield