Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Thursday, October 13th.  The sun will rise at 7:54.  It’ll be up for 11 hours and 7 minutes, setting at 7:01.   The moon, 2 days past full, will rise at 7:29 this evening.

Jupiter is now rising before 8 p.m. in the east northeast.   You’ll have to wait  a couple of hours after it rises for good telescopic views of it.  That was my problem in my youth with my first telescope.  I was viewing Jupiter low on the horizon when it was just coming into the evening sky.  I just couldn’t wait until it rose higher.  The thick atmosphere of the earth I was looking through to see Jupiter washed out the planetary details of its cloud bands and Great Red Spot.  So wait for later in the evening or wait a month or so until Jupiter is higher in the sky to get the best views of Jupiter in a telescope.  Jupiter will be closest to the earth on the 29th of this month when it will be in opposition from the sun, rising at sunset and setting at sunrise.