A unique astronomical event will take place on December 7 when Earth will align itself between Jupiter and the Sun.
Due to this alignment, the gas giant will remain visible all through the night and the skywatchers will get a rare chance to see the biggest planet of our solar system.
As per the experts, Jupiter will be 611 million kilometres or 380 million miles away from Earth at approximately 5:00 am (local time) on December 6.
This closeness between the two planets will guarantee that Jupiter will shine its brightest and give skywatchers the best viewing opportunity to take a look at its atmospheric belts and Galilean moons.
Here’s how you can spot Jupiter
On December 7, the sky-gazers should try to look east-northeast close to the constellation Taurus. Jupiter is expected to rise at sunset and set at sunrise.
Using a telescope, people can look at the planet’s intricate cloud bands and spot its four largest moons which are Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.
During this celestial alignment, the sunlight will get reflected from Jupiter and take nearly 34 minutes to reach Earth. It will even be visible to the stargazers across India.
As per Forbes, the faster orbit of Earth will momentarily place it between the Sun and Jupiter.
Eventually, 100 per cent of the disc of Jupiter will be visible. This means Jupiter will be in opposition to the Earth and will become extremely bright.
Here’s what is ‘full’ Jupiter
A full Jupiter means the planet’s opposition to the Earth because the Sun fully illuminates its sun-facing side.
From Earth, people can see the sun-facing side of Jupiter and much similar to a full moon, 50 per cent of the moon remains always lit by the Sun.
