Our lone natural satellite encounters the solar system’s largest planet in this 2013 image, where you can actually make out three of the four large moons of Jupiter. The Moon passes 4° from the gas giant Thursday evening. (Canon Rebel XSi DSLR, 300mm lens at f/6.3, ISO 800, 1/1000-second exposure)
The pretty pair will be on display from twilight until Jupiter sets around 9:30 p.m. local daylight time.
Of course, the giant planet remains a conspicuous object all week. It currently shines at magnitude –1.9 and dominates the southwestern sky after Venus sets.
Jupiter resides among the background stars of Libra the Scales; this evening, it lies 4° due east of Zubenelgenubi (Alpha [α] Librae). If you view the planet through a telescope, its disk spans 34″ and displays spectacular cloud-top detail.
Plan observing targets for every night by catching up with Astronomy‘s The Sky This Week column.
