By Jupiter! Now’s the best chance for 60 years to see giant planet | liammannix
Any night this week, as the sky darkens and the sun slips below the horizon in the west, what appears to be a large star will rise in the east.
You can think of it completing its long, slow orbit as the Earth quickly rotates within it. Every 13 months Earth catches back up to Jupiter, bringing us into opposition.Every few decades the two planets’ oval orbits come particularly close – as they are this year. The next time the two planets will come this close is in 2129., recording the planet’s movement and passing knowledge on through oral traditions.
Jupiter’s yellow and red stripes and swirls are clouds of ammonia which rotate across the planet’s axis; the ammonia mixes with water, ice and other elements of the planet’s atmosphere to create the distinct colour.The planet’s Great Red Spot is a storm, possibly a giant hurricane, wide enough to engulf the Earth.“When you use a little bit more magnification, you can see the equatorial bands made up of clouds. And if you’re really fortunate, you can sometimes see the great salmon spot,” he says.