If you haven’t done so already, now is the time to ensure that your telescope is clean and collimated (aligned) to deliver the sharpest images of planet Jupiter at its best. We tell you the optimal UK times to view the largest planet’s Great Red Spot and multiple shadow transits from its Galilean moons.
In the early evening of Tuesday, 23 February, the rising waning gibbous Moon — one day after full Moon — lies just 3½ degrees from magnitude -2.5 planet Jupiter low in the eastern sky. Jupiter is closest to Earth on Tuesday, 8 March, so now is the time to get acquainted with the solar system’s largest planet.
In the dawn twilight of Friday, 4 December observers in the British Isles and Western Europe can see the 23-day-old waning crescent Moon just 2.5 degrees (half a 10×50 binocular field of view) below largest planet Jupiter in the constellation Leo high in the southern sky. And if you have a telescope, Jupiter’s largest moon plays hide and seek.
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