Visakhapatnam: On April 8, one of the exciting celestial events of the year “Jupiter Opposition with Sun” will occur and because of which Planet Jupiter will be closest to Earth on April 9 than in any part of 2017. Jupiter will be brightest and appear biggest on the day. Interested schools and other organisations across the state can write to the Planetary Society with request for observations with astronomical telescopes to ssa.media@gmail.com or Call 8686452829.
The Society is running a Jupiter Observation Campaign from April 9 to October 15. It is a known fact all planets revolve around the sun. During the course of journey around Sun, the position of Earth & Jupiter is that they will have face off which is known as Opposition. Hence, an observer can easily locate Jupiter looking opposite direction to sunset in the evening. Similarly, in the morning, one has to look opposite the direction of sunrise to locate Jupiter. During this event, the Jupiter will be fully illuminated by the sun and appears disk-like. Importantly, during opposition the planet in question would be at its closest approach and thus would appear more big and brighter than usual.
At this point Sun-Earth- Planet would be in a straight line opposite to each other. Though planet is at opposition for only one day, nevertheless for visual purposes it is almost as good for viewing for a couple of weeks to a Month before and after opposition. Jupiter oppositions occur every 13 months. The last opposition of Jupiter occurred on March 8, 2016 and next would be on May 9 2018.
