dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (08/14/84)
That bright object near the moon tonight is the king of planets, Jupiter. More on Jupiter and the moon -- right after this. August 7 Jupiter and the Moon Earlier this summer, Jupiter was at opposition -- or running neck-in-neck with Earth in the race around the sun. At such a time, a planet is at its brightest as seen from Earth -- because then Earth and the planet are closest together in space. Jupiter was at opposition -- or just opposite the sun from Earth -- this past June 29th. Now, because Jupiter is farther from the sun than Earth -- because it therefore moves more slowly in orbit -- Jupiter is falling behind Earth in the race of the planets. As Jupiter lags behind our world, it slowly fades in brightness -- and edges ever closer to the western horizon each evening -- closer to its inevitable tumble into the sunset glare. This time around, Jupiter is due to be lost in the glare of sunset by early 1985. That'll be when Jupiter falls so far behind Earth in orbit around the sun that our night sky no longer points in its direction. But that'll be some months from now -- and for now you can see Jupiter in the night sky -- a very bright object now located in the same direction as the summer Milky Way. You've got to be in the country to see the Milky Way -- but Jupiter is easily visible, city or country. Tuesday night is an ideal time to look for Jupiter, because then this largest planet in our solar system is the brightest object near the moon. Script by Deborah Byrd. (c) Copyright 1983, 1984 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin