This looping time-lapse simulated telescope view of Jupiter from 01:10-3:10am BST on 14 June 2018 is speeded-up 240× realtime, showing the planet’s rotation, Great Red Spot, Galilean moon Europa and its shadow – a sample of the many Jovian events visible from the UK during June (weather permitting) tabulated at the bottom of this page. AN graphic by Ade Ashford/Cartes du Ciel.As I explained in detail in a former post, Jupiter was at opposition on 9 May. As June begins, the solar system’s largest planet is still prime time, unmissable as a magnitude -2.5 interloper amid the stars of Libra and found highest in the southern sky at 11pm BST for observers in the British Isles. If you’re unsure which ‘star’ is Jupiter, the 10-day-old waxing gibbous Moon lies close by at dusk on 23 June.
Jupiter’s angular size shrinks slightly from 44 to 41.4 arcseconds over the course of June as the distance between our two planets grows, but a telescope magnifying just 50× is sufficient to enlarge it to the same size as an average full Moon appears to the unaided eye. In order to see most of the following events, you’ll need powers of 100× or more and preferably a telescope of 10-cm (4-inch) aperture or larger. (See this article for a guide to observing Jupiter and its moons.)
The orbital motion of Jupiter’s bright Galilean moons Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto cause them to alternately pass in front of (transit) Jupiter, be hidden (occulted) by their parent planet or its shadow (eclipsed). Owing to the slight inclination of their orbits to our line of sight, outermost moon Callisto currently passes north or south of Jupiter’s disc, hence it is temporarily excluded from transits, shadow transits, occultations and eclipses.The current inclination of the Galilean moons’ orbits to our line of sight means that outermost moon Callisto passes above and below Jupiter, as shown here at 12am BST on 8 June. Observers with Newtonian/Dobsonian telescopes should rotate this image through 180° to match their eyepiece view, while users of refractors and catadioptrics (Schmidt- and Maksutov-Cassegrains) with a star diagonal need to mirror this graphic left-right to replicate what they see through the eyepiece. AN graphic by Ade Ashford/Cartes du Ciel.While the transit of a Galilean moon across the face of Jupiter can be challenging to view, their shadows are much easier to see in modest (4-inch, or 10-cm aperture) telescopes of good quality at magnifications of 100x or more, seen as inky black dots slowly drifting across the face of the planet.
The table below lists all Great Red Spot transits (when the giant anticyclonic storm feature crosses an imaginary line joining Jupiter’s north and south poles), Galilean moon and shadow transits, occultations and eclipses visible from the British Isles throughout the month of June. Note that the Great Red Spot is well shown for up to an hour either side of the predicted transit time.Phenomena of Jupiter and its bright Galilean moons visible from the British Isles (including large parts of Western Europe) throughout June 2018. Note that the times of all events are given in British Summer Time (BST), so subtract one hour to convert to Universal Time/GMT. Computation and data preparation: Ade Ashford.Predictions of Jovian phenomena for any given date may also be obtained through our interactive online Almanac. To see the satellite events for any given day, ensure that the ‘Add phenomena of Jupiter?’ checkbox is ticked. Like the Great Red Spot predictions, all Galilean moon events are in Universal Time (UT). For help using the Almanac, see this article.
Have you ever seen the Moon hide a star? If you’re an early riser in the UK with a small telescope on Saturday, 24 August 2019 then you can potentially witness the disappearance and reappearance of three naked-eye stars in the Hyades open star cluster of Taurus between 3:40am BST and shortly after sunrise.
On the night of 19—20 January, the 10-day-old waxing gibbous Moon glides in front of the loose open star cluster known as the Hyades that represent the bull’s head in the constellation of Taurus, culminating in the occultation of bright star Aldebaran an hour or so before moonset for observers in the British Isles.
