Jupiter
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 in the constellation of
Taurus,
at a distance of
Finder Charts
View interactive star map
High 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.
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.
Galilean Moons
Celestial Coordinates
Apparent
J2000
Additional Information
Rise and Set Times
Today's rise,
transit and set times of
Jupiter from
Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):
Azimuth: 68.3°
Max altitude: 60.3°
Azimuth: 291.7°
- Jupiter is
above the horizon from Greenwich, UK.
- Right now it is placed in the South-South-West direction at an altitude of 57.19° above the horizon.
- 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.
Distance from Earth
- Jupiter is above the horizon from Greenwich, UK.
- Right now it is placed in the South-South-West direction at an altitude of 57.19° above the horizon.
- Given its current magnitude, Jupiter is visible to the naked eye, easily even from highly light polluted areas.
- Go to interactive sky chart
The distance of Jupiter from Earth is currently
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.
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
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:
NOTE: values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.
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.
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 |
15 Days Ephemeris
The following table lists the ephemerides of Jupiter computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Apparent celestial coordinates are provided.
| Date | Right AscensionR.A. | DeclinationDec. | MagnitudeMag | Apparent DiameterDiameter | Constellation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 Feb 11 | 04h 39m 28s | +21° 41’ 07” | -2.44 | 41.1” | Taurus |
| 2025 Feb 12 | 04h 39m 34s | +21° 41’ 31” | -2.43 | 41.0” | Taurus |
| 2025 Feb 13 | 04h 39m 41s | +21° 41’ 57” | -2.42 | 40.8” | Taurus |
| 2025 Feb 14 | 04h 39m 48s | +21° 42’ 25” | -2.41 | 40.7” | Taurus |
| 2025 Feb 15 | 04h 39m 57s | +21° 42’ 53” | -2.41 | 40.6” | Taurus |
| 2025 Feb 16 | 04h 40m 06s | +21° 43’ 24” | -2.40 | 40.4” | Taurus |
| 2025 Feb 17 | 04h 40m 17s | +21° 43’ 56” | -2.39 | 40.3” | Taurus |
| 2025 Feb 18 | 04h 40m 28s | +21° 44’ 28” | -2.38 | 40.2” | Taurus |
| 2025 Feb 19 | 04h 40m 39s | +21° 45’ 04” | -2.37 | 40.0” | Taurus |
| 2025 Feb 20 | 04h 40m 52s | +21° 45’ 40” | -2.37 | 39.9” | Taurus |
| 2025 Feb 21 | 04h 41m 06s | +21° 46’ 17” | -2.36 | 39.8” | Taurus |
| 2025 Feb 22 | 04h 41m 20s | +21° 46’ 57” | -2.35 | 39.6” | Taurus |
| 2025 Feb 23 | 04h 41m 35s | +21° 47’ 37” | -2.34 | 39.5” | Taurus |
| 2025 Feb 24 | 04h 41m 51s | +21° 48’ 19” | -2.34 | 39.4” | Taurus |
Additional Resources
- Position of Galilean Moons in real time or at any time in the past and in the future.
- Position and finder charts (see also Where is Jupiter?)
- Distance from Earth (see also How far is Jupiter from Earth?)
- When does Jupiter rise and set?
- Brightness (see also How bright is Jupiter?)
- Physical data. Detailed information about physical properties of Jupiter, such as mass and geometric properties.
- 15 days ephemerides. Table showing celestial coordinates and magnitude of Jupiter for the past and next 7 days.
- Interactive sky chart. An online planetarium application that shows where to locate Jupiter in the sky from your location.
- Live position tracker. A high precision sky chart that uses real deep sky imagery to help locate Jupiter with your telescope or on your astrophotographies.