Home > Ephemeris Program, Observing > Ephemeris: 11/02/2023 – Jupiter is at opposition from the Sun tonight

Ephemeris: 11/02/2023 – Jupiter is at opposition from the Sun tonight

November 2, 2023

This is Ephemeris for Thursday, November 2nd. The Sun will rise at 8:21. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 8 minutes, setting at 6:30. The Moon, 3 days before last quarter, will rise at 9:57 this evening.

Tonight the planet Jupiter is at opposition from the Sun. It is the time when the Earth is directly between the Sun and Jupiter, so that Jupiter rises at sunset and sets at sunrise. So for the next 6 or so months Jupiter will be in the evening sky and officially an evening planet. To the naked eye Jupiter is the second brightest planet after Venus and without Venus in the sky it may be mistaken for Jupiter. In binoculars Jupiter appears very bright and not quite star-like. It also has several of its moons that are visible in binoculars. These are its Galilean moons discovered by Galileo back in 1609. In telescopes four can be seen although not all of them may be visible at one time because the moons move back and forth from one side to the other of the planet.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT –4 hours). They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Jupiter and its four Galilean moons as seen for six consecutive nights starting tonight November 2nd (top) through November 7th, 2023 (bottom). Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts) and GIMP.

Follow Jupiter’s moons with this tool: Sky & Telescope’s Interactive Tool for Observing Jupiter’s Moons.

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