By Jove: Jupiter at Opposition for 2018

By David Dickinson - April 30, 2018 12:10 PM UTC | Planetary Science
It's a question I've fielded lots this weekend leading up to last night's April Pink Full Moon, and one I expect we'll get again tonight: "What's that bright star near the Moon?" That bright "star" is actually a planet, the king of them all as far as our Solar System is concerned: Jupiter. May also ushers in Jupiter observing season, as the planet reaches opposition on May 9th, rising in the east opposite to the setting Sun to the west. Jupiter now joins Venus in the dusk sky, ending the planetary drought plaguing many an evening star party.
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