Moon near Jupiter October 6 and 7
The Moon and Jupiter. Image Credit: fdecomite
October 6, 2008.
If you want to see the planet Jupiter – and visualize this world in three-dimensional space – you’ll have a golden opportunity these next few evenings.
As soon as darkness falls, look for the moon. You’ll find a blazing point of light nearby. That’ll be Jupiter – the 4th brightest celestial body after the sun, moon and planet Venus.
Today, the planet Jupiter reaches what astronomers call eastern quadrature. That’s a point on our sky’s dome that’s 90 degrees east of the sun. In other words, at sunset, Jupiter is at its highest – like a Jupiter “noon” in our sky.
The same is true of the moon, which reaches the first quarter phase during the night tonight. A first quarter moon is also at eastern quadrature – 90 degrees east of the sun – at its highest in our sky at sunset. So it makes sense that Jupiter is near the quarter moon on the day they both reach quadrature.
Jupiter and the moon look close together, but Jupiter is much farther away than the moon – 42 light-minutes tonight, in contrast to about a light-second for the moon. Plus Jupiter’s distance from Earth changes as we and this distant world both orbit the sun.
Jupiter was closest to Earth in July of 2008. Now its distance is increasing slightly to be at its closest again in August of 2009.
As seen from middle and far northern latitudes – like the U.S. and Europe – the moon and Jupiter will set before midnight tonight. South of the equator – like in Australia – the moon and Jupiter will set after midnight.
If you’re a very careful observer, you can use Jupiter this evening to tell whether the moon has reached the precise first quarter phase – or still has a few hours to go. Notice the moon’s terminator – the line between lunar day and lunar night on the moon. If the moon’s shadow line points to Jupiter, it’s pretty much first quarter moon. However, if the moon’s shadow line points to the west of Jupiter, it’s still a waxing crescent moon. As darkness falls in your part of the world this evening, will it be a waxing crescent or first quarter moon? The moon’s shadow line and Jupiter will let you know!
Jupiter reaches eastern quadrature on October 6, 2008, 17 hours Universal Time (12 noon Central Daylight Time).
The moon passes south of Jupiter on October 7, 2008, 8 UT (3 a.m. CDT)
First quarter moon is on October 7, 2008, 9:04 UT (4:04 a.m. CDT)
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Hamtaro, DIGGY DOW!
Meh fudz needz cleenin?
OMG are you kiding me it wil explode in 2 days
Yes
TY, have been looking for a site like this since we lost our guy on the public televisions stations with his 15 minutes on Sunday evenings in Rochester, NY!