SkyHunt: November 2000

Mighty Jupiter

You might think that exploring the night sky is an activity only for astronomers armed with giant telescopes on remote mountain peaks. The truth is, even with the unaided eye, you can see a wealth of celestial delights from the most urban locale.

In the city, light-pollution caused by smog and streetlights often rule out seeing faint objects like galaxies. But closer sights like the Moon and planets are within your grasp and you don’t necessarily need a telescope to find them.

For most of November, look for the brightest point of light rising in the eastern sky after 9PM. That’s the planet Jupiter. Even modest binoculars will show Jupiter’s four largest moons as faint stars lined up on either side of the planet.

With 17 moons and more than 1,300 times the Earth’s mass, mighty Jupiter is much like a miniature solar system.These giant moons are practically planets in and of themselves. Among them is Ganymede (the largest moon in the solar system – even bigger than the planets Mercury and Pluto), Io (the most volcanically active place in the solar system) and Europa (the only place in the solar system besides Earth where plentiful water exists.)

Beginner level telescopes (60 to 80mm dia.) will clearly show these moons, as well as the brightly-coloured bands of gas swirling around Jupiter itself.