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A Complete Guide to the Solar System and the Night Sky
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public Observing fromLocation: Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt
north SunriseRise: 7:48  
clear_day Transit: 11:49  
SunsetSet: 15:50 south
sunny DaytimeWhat's Visible Now?
Major Bodies » 

Jupiter

Altitude: -20.3°   Azimuth: 33.7°   Direction: North-North-East

Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System, located fifth from the sun. It has a diameter of 139,822 kilometers and a mass of 1.898 x 10^27 kilograms, making it more than twice as massive as all the other planets in the Solar System combined. Jupiter is a gas giant planet composed mostly of hydrogen and helium, with a small rocky core at its center. The planet has a banded appearance, with swirling cloud formations and a famous Great Red Spot, a persistent high-pressure storm in the planet's atmosphere that is larger than the size of Earth. Jupiter has a rapid rotation, with a day length of 9.9 hours, and it orbits the sun once every 11.86 Earth years. The planet has 79 known moons, including four large Galilean moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. Jupiter has been explored by multiple spacecraft, including the Galileo mission and NASA's Juno mission, which is currently in orbit around the planet.

Jupiter is currently in the constellation of Aries.

The current Right Ascension of Jupiter is 02h 17m 35s and the Declination is +12° 22’ 24” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt). The current magnitude of Jupiter is -2.79 (JPL).

Current positions of Jupiter's Galilean moons
Position of the four major moons of Jupiter. If one or more of the moons are not visible in the image it is because right now they are behind Jupiter. For more advanced features check out the dedicated Galilean Moons page.
02h 17m 35s
+12° 22’ 24”
Aries
-2.79

Today's rise, transit and set times of Jupiter from Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 77.6°
Max altitude: 50.9°
Azimuth: 282.4°
  • Jupiter is below the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt.
  • Given its current magnitude, Jupiter is visible to the naked eye, easily even from highly light polluted areas.
  • Go to interactive sky chart

If you need to access this information frequently for your observations, you can create a simple customized Quick Access page, so that you can easily bookmark it in your browser favorites or add a shortcut to your mobile phones' home screen.

Available Resources

Jupiter Position and Finder Charts

Below we provide Jupiter finder charts showing where the object is right now in the sky with respect to the brightest stars. The first finder chart has a field of view of 50 degrees, while the second one has a field of view of 10 degrees. Click on each finder chart to access a full screen interactive Online Planetarium.

Finder chart of Jupiter in Aries on December,06 2023
Map showing Jupiter in Aries on December, 06 2023
Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View fullscreen
Finder chart of Jupiter
Map showing Jupiter in Aries on December, 06 2023
Field of view: 10x6 degrees
View fullscreen

Higher precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Jupiter is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

Jupiter
RA: 02h 17m 35s
Dec: +12° 22’ 24”
Deep sky finder chart for Jupiter
Field of view: 60x40 arcmins
View fullscreen

Also check out Where is Jupiter?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Jupiter in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Jupiter Distance from Earth

The distance of Jupiter from Earth is currently 622,625,547 kilometers, equivalent to 4.161995 Astronomical Units. Light takes 34 minutes and 36.8553 seconds to travel from Jupiter and arrive to us.

622,625,547
4.161995
34 minutes and 36.8553 seconds

The following chart shows the distance of Jupiter from Earth as a function of time. In the chart the distance data is measured in Astronomical Units and sampled with an interval of 1 day.

Chart of the distance of Jupiter from Earth in Astronomical Units (au)

The value of the reported distance might be somewhat inaccurate around the times of closest approach for objects passing extremely close to Earth. The value of the distance of Jupiter from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest Approach of Jupiter to Earth

Between 1 January 1600 and 30 December 2499, the closest approach of Jupiter to Earth happens on Tue Oct 16 2485 at a distance of 3.943792 Astronomical Units, or 589,982,961 kilometers:

Tue Oct 16 2485
589,982,961
3.943792

NOTE: values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.

Jupiter Brightness and Light Curve

The following chart is the predicted light curve (visual magnitude as a function of time) of Jupiter, according to the most recent ephemerides data. Magnitude data is sampled with a 2 days interval and there might be inaccuracies for objects changing brightness very rapidly during the course of a few days. For comets there could be large discrepancies between the observed and predicted brightness because of their highly dynamic behaviour.

Chart of the magnitude of Jupiter as a function of time

Jupiter Physical Data

The following shows the known values of the most important physical parameters of Jupiter. Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Physical Parameter Value Relative to Earth
Diameter 139822 km 10.9733
Mass 1898.13 x 1024 kg 317.8281
Density 1.3262 gr/cm3 0.2405
Escape Velocity 60.2 km/s 5.3798
Sideral Rotation 9.9250 hours 0.4147
Absolute Magnitude -9.4
Geometric Albedo 0.52

Jupiter 15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Jupiter computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Jupiter in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.

Date Right AscensionR.A. DeclinationDec. MagnitudeMag Apparent DiameterDiameter Constellation
2023 Nov 29 02h 20m 17s +12° 34’ 09” -2.83 47.1” Aries
2023 Nov 30 02h 19m 54s +12° 32’ 25” -2.83 47.0” Aries
2023 Dec 01 02h 19m 31s +12° 30’ 43” -2.82 46.9” Aries
2023 Dec 02 02h 19m 09s +12° 29’ 04” -2.81 46.8” Aries
2023 Dec 03 02h 18m 47s +12° 27’ 29” -2.81 46.7” Aries
2023 Dec 04 02h 18m 24s +12° 25’ 59” -2.80 46.6” Aries
2023 Dec 05 02h 18m 05s +12° 24’ 29” -2.80 46.5” Aries
2023 Dec 06 02h 17m 44s +12° 23’ 04” -2.79 46.4” Aries
2023 Dec 07 02h 17m 26s +12° 21’ 43” -2.78 46.3” Aries
2023 Dec 08 02h 17m 07s +12° 20’ 26” -2.78 46.1” Aries
2023 Dec 09 02h 16m 49s +12° 19’ 10” -2.77 46.0” Aries
2023 Dec 10 02h 16m 32s +12° 18’ 01” -2.76 45.9” Aries
2023 Dec 11 02h 16m 14s +12° 16’ 54” -2.75 45.8” Aries
2023 Dec 12 02h 15m 59s +12° 15’ 51” -2.75 45.7” Aries