Jupiter is at its closest to earth this spring, so it is a very good time to go out and have a look. If you go out on a clear night and look high up in the south, you will see an object that is brighter than all the others. You’ve found Jupiter, don’t mistake the star Sirius for it, that’s quite low down. For constellation viewers, Orion is just to the right.
So what you might say. A bright point in the sky, who cares? Well, you should. The huge gravity of our largest planet has swept up a lot of the rocks in the solar system, and that has helped keep Earth safe.
OK, now what to do when viewing Jupiter. If you have some binoculars, you will be able to see a lot more. First make yourself comfortable, a chair or garden recliner is ideal, binoculars can feel heavy when you hold them for a long time. Try to position yourself so your elbows are supported, relaxing will allow you to concentrate on what you are seeing. Some binoculars have a mount for a tripod, if you can use this it will really allow you to relax.
The first thing you will have noticed are 4 little points of light around the planet (unless one is hiding behind it) these are the Galilean moons named after Galileo who was the first to see them. They are called, Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto If you look at them for a while, their relative positions will change as they orbit Jupiter, try and work out which is moving the fastest, this will be Europa the closest moon, the slowest will be Callisto, the furthest away. There are many more moons around Jupiter, but you won’t see these so don’t worry about them.
If it’s a very clear night and your binoculars are more powerful than most, you might get a glimpse of some markings on the surface, you are seeing the clouds above the most powerful storms ever seen, Jupiter is a violent place.
The moon Europa is a fascinating place. It’s covered in a thick layer of water ice, by thick I mean it’s up to 30kms deep. Hiding underneath all this ice is a liquid ocean that probably has more water than all Earth’s oceans combined. Many scientists are intrigued with the possibility of life existing in these oceans, personally I thinks it’s very unlikely but given time we’ll find out.
Many people buy a small telescope and are not sure what to do with it, all the above is a great starting point, 50 to 75 times magnification will let you see some detail in the storms and you can look for a small reddish area, the great red spot, a major storm that has been going on for decades.
Charles Oates, Vega Baja Astronomy Group.
● To find out more about observing and astronomy why not join our group, email us at vegabaja.astronomygroup@gmail.com to find out more.
