It’s an awesome time to capture a glimpse of the largest planet in our Solar System, and Hubble is angling to get a good luck.
At the moment, the planet is at opposition, indicating that it is in a straight line with the Earth and the sun, so Jupiter is on the opposite side of the sky from the sun. It is visible in the southern sky just above the constellation Virgo for Northern Hemisphere observers.
If you missed Jupiter Friday night, it won’t move significantly in just a day or two, so you’ll still be blessed with some amazing views of the planet. Jupiter is about 415 million miles from Earth, and Hubble is able to get a more detailed view than usual thanks to its relative closeness at the moment. This allows us to see details like the cloud bands in greater clarity.
The video of Hubble’s remarkable footage of the planet is embedded at the bottom of this post.
“On April 3, 2017, as Jupiter made its nearest approach to Earth in a year, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope viewed the solar system’s largest planet in all of its up-close glory,” NASA said in a statement. “At a distance of 415 million miles (668 million kilometers) from Earth, Jupiter offered spectacular views of its colorful, roiling atmosphere, the legendary Great Red Spot, and it smaller companion at farther southern latitudes dubbed “Red Spot Jr.”
