March 7, 2016 - King of the Planets Meets King of the Jungle
King of the Planets Meets King of the Jungle Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System, averaging 140,000 km (87,000 mi) across—as wide as eleven Earths—and containing 320 times the mass of our planet. But being five times farther from the Sun than we are, Jupiter still looks like another bright star in the night sky; however, on Tuesday, March 8, Jupiter will be at opposition, positioned opposite the Sun as seen from Earth. It will rise at sunset, be at its closest to Earth, and will reflect the maximum amount of sunlight, so it will appear very bright, reaching magnitude -2.5 around local midnight. Jupiter will appear in the constellation Leo, and if you have even a small telescope or pair of binoculars, you should be able to spot its dark atmospheric bands and the Galilean moons alongside it.
Image credit: NASA / ESA / A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center)
Weekly Calendar
March 7-13, 2016
Holidays - Sky Events - Space History
Monday 7
Venus 4° south of Moon
1792: John Herschel born
1837: Henry Draper born
1962: OSO-1 launched
1969: Apollo 9 astronauts complete first solo flight of lunar module
Tuesday 8
New Moon 8:54 PM ET
Jupiter at opposition
Total solar eclipse (Asia, Astralasia)
1979: Active volcanoes found on Io
2001: STS-102 Discovery launched
2007: Orbital Express launched
2008: First Automated Transfer Vehicle launched
Wednesday 9
1564: David Fabricius born
1934: Yuri Gagarin born, first human in space
1961: Sputnik 9 launched
1986: Vega 2 flies by Halley’s Comet
Thursday 10
Moon at perigee
Uranus 1.9° north of Moon
1820: Royal Astronomical Society founded
1977: Rings discovered around Uranus
2006: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter arrives at Mars
Friday 11
1811: Urbain Le Verrier born
1965: Pioneer 5 launched
2008: STS-123 Endeavour launched
Saturday 12
1835: Simon Newcomb born
1981: Victor Savinykh becomes 100th person to travel in space, Soyuz T-4 mission
2015: Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission launched
Sunday 13
Daylight Saving Time begins 2:00am
1781: William Herschel discovers Uranus
1855: Percival Lowell born
1989: STS-29 Discovery launched