As the fall equinox quickly approaches on Thursday, now’s a good time to take advantage of the last few warm evenings — and tonight is particularly special. At 368 million miles away, Jupiter will be the closest to Earth since 1963. The best time to catch a glimpse of the miraculous planet is around dusk facing the east, and around midnight, it will be directly overhead.
“Jupiter is so bright right now, you don’t need a sky map to find it,” said Tony Phillips, a California astronomer under contract with NASA. “You just walk outside and see it. It’s so eye-catching, there it is.”
Don’t give up if it’s cloudy tonight, Phillips said Jupiter will remain relatively close for many weeks.
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Photo by NASA Goddard Photo and Video via Flickr.