Moon and Jupiter on September 9 and 10
Image Credit: James
Tuesday, September 9, 2008.
If your sky is clear tonight, you can’t miss the planet Jupiter.
It’ll be that blazing point of light near the waxing gibbous moon in the evening sky. Jupiter, which shines by reflecting sunlight, exhibits a brighter and steadier light than that of the twinkling stars. After the sun and moon, only Venus is brighter than Jupiter.
But Jupiter is easier to spot than Venus is right now. To see Venus, you have to catch this world low in your western sky shortly after sunset. Throughout September, Venus will follow the sun below your horizon at dusk or early evening. Jupiter, on the other hand, stays out until after midnight as seen from most of Earth now.
The moon and Jupiter are in front of the constellation Sagittarius the Archer tonight. Although the moon will pass into a neighboring constellation – Capricornus- in a few days, Jupiter will remain in front of Sagittarius for the rest of 2008.
The sun passes in front of Sagittarius each year from about December 18 till January 18. Whenever the sun is in Sagittarius, the sun shines high in the southern hemisphere sky, but low in the northern hemisphere sky. The same applies to the moon and Jupiter now – high as seen from the southern hemisphere, relatively low as seen from the northern – as they shine together now in Earth’s sky.
By the way, the ecliptic – or path of the sun, moon and planets – passes directly in front of the constellations Sagittarius and Capricornus. Therefore, these two constellations belong to the narrow band of stars known as the Zodiac.
