Jupiter is two months past opposition on 10 August, so you need to be looking low in the southern sky of the British Isles around sunset if you wish to catch the solar system’s largest planet at its best. If you time it right and the weather obliges, Jupiter’s Great Red Spot makes multiple appearances while the planet’s Galilean moons play hide and seek. Welcome to our August 2019 Jovian observing guide.
Observers in the British Isles can rejoice that summer astronomical twilight all night is drawing to a close. But if Jupiter and Saturn are currently too low to view, you’re blighted by light pollution, or moonlight robs you of nebulae, why not seek out some of the many beautiful double and multiple stars on show?
The serene beauty of the International Space Station gliding silently across the sky needs nothing more than the naked eye to appreciate. But when the dazzling ISS is also in conjunction with a partially eclipsed Moon, Saturn and Jupiter on the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11’s launch, be sure to look low in the southeast through south around 10:06pm BST on 16 July 2019!
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