We are going to have a big celestial meeting, called Moon-Jupiter Conjunction, which will occur over the Colorado skies tonight. Jupiter, the largest and second-brightest planet of the solar system will appear less than a finger-width from the Moon throughout North America. This is going to be the closest conjunction between the two celestial bodies until 2026.
Today on January 21, the Moon will appear amazingly close in the constellation of Taurus in the sky with the largest planet in our solar system, Jupiter. Tonight, the brightness of the Moon will be negative 10.8 magnitude, means excessive high (the more negative magnitude, the more brightness of the Moon). On the other side, Jupiter’s brightness will be negative 2.6 magnitude. The lunar phase between first-quarter Moon and full Moon will be approximately one degree south of Jupiter (the scenario could vary based on your location).
Most of people will see the Moon within less than a degree of Jupiter. South American and some people of South Pacific will actually see Jupiter slip behind the Moon! Jupiter’s Great Red Spot will be visible roughly from 9:00 to 10:40 pm EST (6:00 to 7:40 PST). And Jupiter’s moon Europa, which is well camouflaged against Jupiter’s bright disk will cross in front of the Earth from 8:13 to 10:37 pm EST (5:13 to 7:37 pm PST). Europa’s tiny black shadow will cross Jupiter from 10:22 pm to 12:46 a.m. EST (7:22 to 9:46 pm PST).
This will be closest conjunction between the two celestial bodies until 2026. Slooh Space Camera will cover the event absolutely free to the public live on slooh.com at 6:00 pm PST/9:00 pm EST/03:02 pm UTC. Viewers can watch the event live on their PC or iOS/Android mobile device at t-minus zero, or else they can see it through binoculars or through a small, wide-field telescope at magnification of 40x or lower. To know the appearances of this amazing event in your local as well as international time zone, visit http://goo.gl/xySeo. By any chance, if you miss this conjunction, there will be another fine Jupiter-Moon conjunction on March 17.
Source: U.S. Naval Observatory
Thanks To: Sky & Telescope, Space Daily
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