

Tonight Jupiter making closest approach in nearly 50 years - sgoel
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SCI_JUPITERS_APPROACH?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-09-17-18-14-25

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pvg
These always seem a little overblown. Jupiter was very nearly as bright last
year.

[http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=magnitude+of+jupiter+se...](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=magnitude+of+jupiter+september+20th+2010)

-2.92

[http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=magnitude+of+jupiter+au...](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=magnitude+of+jupiter+august+15++2009)

-2.86

So the ratio in brightness is

2.512 ^ 0.06 = 1.0567

If wolfram alpha is to be believed, it's going to be just about as bright next
year.

[http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=magnitude+of+jupiter+oc...](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=magnitude+of+jupiter+october+15++2011)

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rbanffy
The distance to Jupiter varies between very far and very, very far.

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ANH
The article states "Around midnight, it will be directly overhead." This
depends where you are, and it will not be true for most humanoids. From
Washington, DC, for instance, it will be 45 degrees up from the horizon at
midnight:
[http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=jupiter+sky+position+fr...](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=jupiter+sky+position+from+washington+at+12:00am)

From Oslo, Norway, a little under 9 degrees:
[http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=jupiter+sky+position+fr...](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=jupiter+sky+position+from+oslo+at+12:00am)

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rbanffy
If it's directly overhead on midnight (over the equator), it must be a Sun-
Earth-Jupiter alignment, which makes sense as it is the closest distance
between both planets in the Earth year.

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JoeAltmaier
When I was a kid in the 70s, I could distinguish a moon of Jupiter as a
separate blip with my naked eye.

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cryptoz
Really? That seems unlikely. Very few people have ever made such a claim,
though it does seem that it could be possible.

<http://www.denisdutton.com/jupiter_moons.htm>

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JoeAltmaier
Yeah, I get lots of people saying that. All I can say is, I was there, I could
see it, my brothers and sisters could see it.

We used a telescope to spot, then when the moon was at its furthest distance,
with the naked eye, could see a separate blip.

Lived on a farm in Iowa, nobody for miles, no lights to mess things up.

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JoeAltmaier
You know, what bugs me is, people talk and talk about this, write articles and
posts, but nobody GOES OUTSIDE AND LOOKS! You think writing an article about
it would be worth investing in an afternoon driving out of town to where it
gets dark, tilting your head up at the sky, and squinting. But no, decades go
by with no new info on the topic, people just repeating what amount to urban
legends.

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gintas
This reminds me of an incident on Friday night: I noticed an unusually bright
planet in the sky, and checked it out with Google Night Sky on my Android
phone. When I zoomed in, the software showed the disc of Jupiter _overlapping_
with Uranus. I sure was amazed!

I checked now, and the planet conjunction list at
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conjunction_%28astronomy_and_as...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conjunction_%28astronomy_and_astrology%29)
indicates that this conjunction has happened several times recently, but won't
be happening for a while now.

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sgoel
Checkout my Palo Alto viewing party using my company's event creation service:
<http://poig.com/pings/4c9798d0d4ac14411c00001f/>

I'll be at Arastradero Preserve in the Palo Alto Hills tonight around 11PM
with a telescope and some buddies. Exit off Page Mill from 280 and head west
towards the hills. Take a RIGHT on Arastradero and drive up about a mile and
take a right into the parking lot.

WE WILL HAVE A LIMITED SUPPLY OF SIMPLER TIMES BEER

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auxbuss
Here's a case where I want to look at what you've posted, and I can't because
you want me to login via Facebook first.

Anyway, have a great time, and I hope the vis is terrific.

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sgoel
I know! I'm going to have to do some tinkering to make the links public

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atlbeer
Is there a good iPhone app that uses both the GPS and the Compass to do star
finding and identification?

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sgoel
I'm using Planets, apparently it has 3 mil downloads and it's free

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atlbeer
Installed... Thanks

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vgoel
Thank you. There is a NASA app for iPad that could be useful as a learning
aid.

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kingkawn
In NYC it will appear as a stalled airplane between clouds.

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jacquesm
And of course it is completely overcast here :(

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sgt
More info: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter>

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marcinw
Thanks, even more info here: <http://en.wikipedia.org/>

