Is Jupiter always so big and bright and next to the moon? also its coming towards us??

Am I going crazy or is Jupiter very big and bright next to our sun?? I looked on Stallerium and it says it's coming closer to us at like .00000001AU a second. I've never seen this!! I don't think anyway. I'm in Australia.

[edit on 16/5/09 by Nventual]

I looked it up on a star map and it doesn't mention that it is coming towards us. Can you post the info.
stardate.org...

If I remember right, there was a post in recent past that said Australia would be the first to see planet x ???


[edit on 16-5-2009 by sickofitall2012]

reply to post by Nventual

Here's a link to a picture of Jupiter and the moon together from close to 11 months ago.www.flickr.com...
Looks pretty small back then.


[edit on 16-5-2009 by jmdewey60]

I'm looking at it on Stellarium. It's getting closer, but maybe it always is getting closer or going further away. Venus is going further away, Mars is coming closer but way way way slower than Jupiter.

I just went back out to look, and... there is thick cloud everywhere! I can't even see the moon! wtf!!! 5 minutes ago when I saw Jupiter the sky was 100% clear.

reply to post by Nventual


No need to worry, Jupiter is just approaching its perihelion, which is when it is closest to the Sun. Jupiter also has a very slow orbital period, which is 11.9 years.

This site might help you:homepage.ntlworld.com...

This is so weird, I know what I saw.. I looked at the sky and it was clear and there was a star that was bigger than I've seen before, bigger then Venus or Jupitier is on any pictures I can find. It was RIGHT next to the moon! There was a bit of a gap but not much, it wasn't "twinkling" or flicking at all! It was perfectly still and calm. I looked at every other star for reference and they were ALL "twinkling". Then I go inside, type this thread, go back out there and you can not even see a tiny patch of sky.

reply to post by Nventual


Where are you at?

I am not to familiar with position of planets in the celestial sphere so I don't know how much further help I can be.

I'm in Australia. Jupiter is the closest to the moon right now what I saw must have been in between them in my view, because I could a glimpse of Jupiter just before in a gap of cloud and it looked like a normal star just a bit brigther. Certainly not what I saw. Is it possible for an object to be there and then not? Hypothetically if it was something approaching?

Yes, Jupiter is always big and most of the time is very bright. It is also relatively close to Earth at the moment which makes it appear brighter than at other times. By relatively I mean compared to other times. It is now "only" about 461,280,000 miles away from us. At its greatest distance it is 558,000,000 miles away.

Jupiter is not "coming toward us" we are both in our own orbits circling the Sun.


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/b1c13527efe17846.gif[/atsimg]



As opposed to stars, planets do not tend to twinkle unless they are low in the sky and atmospheric conditions are turbulent.

reply to post by Phage


Where is the source of that picture? I am just wondering because I would like to check it out.

reply to post by jkrog08


Doh!
www.fourmilab.ch...

reply to post by Phage


LOL, thanks man.


I have never been to familiar with locations of of most stars or planets in the observable sky, even after taking college Astronomy,lol. I always focused more on the physics aspects of astronomy and cosmology rather then the visual aspects. I have been putting off memorizing planetary and stellar body locations so that is why I asked for the link. Do you know of any other good sources that show locations of constellations and planets in the night sky?

[edit on 5/16/2009 by jkrog08]

reply to post by Phage


Ahem. Your picture doesn't show the orbit of Nibiru.

reply to post by jkrog08

Any astronomy program will do but Stellarium is the best I've come across.

To really learn the sky you need to start with learning the constellations. Use Stellarium, pick a constellation (an "easy" one, with very bright stars) and go look for it. Once you can recognize it try to find it a few hours later, or better yet, a few days later when it will be in a different location. When you know where it is, do it again with another one. Once you get a few constellations under your belt work on stars and nebulae. It's really just a matter of memorizing patterns.

Once you get familiar with the sky, the way everything moves in it becomes much more apparent. You can know (rather than just understanding) why we see different stars at different times of year. You can see how the planets travel across the star field. You can know if you're seeing something really unusual.

reply to post by Phage


GREAT.... Thanks Phage!

LOL, it always seemed less interesting to observe the planets in the sky rather than knowing why they are there and how they function. But it is funny cause I always look at the sky. I know there are 88 constellations so I guess I got a few to know, of course I cant see them all in this hemisphere though.


When I went to St. Lucia in 2000 you would not believe all the stars and new constellations in the sky. It was amazing, you could actually see the Milky Way band.

Originally posted by Nventual
I'm looking at it on Stellarium. It's getting closer, but maybe it always is getting closer or going further away. Venus is going further away, Mars is coming closer but way way way slower than Jupiter.

I just went back out to look, and... there is thick cloud everywhere! I can't even see the moon! wtf!!! 5 minutes ago when I saw Jupiter the sky was 100% clear.

Stellarium is one of the really exceptional astronomical programs out there.

If you go out in the early morning just before sunrise you can see both Venus and Jupiter very clearly, as most stars have gone to sleep for the night and those are the only two brightly visible objects in the early morning sky.

They are absolutely breathtaking. You can draw an imaginary line of the ecliptic using those dots. If you have a telescope you should be able to see a few moons around Jupiter too!

No conspiracy here. There were some people posting threads a few months ago (when Jupiter was behind the sun) that said that Jupiter had burst into flames while behind the sun and had become another sun. heh Good laugh on that one.

If you can get away from the lights of the city for a night (if you are city bound) make the effort. The night sky is gorgeous and vast!

Even Stellarium can't do reality justice.

BTW... All of the planets orbits, even our own planet, have a wobble or otherwise elliptical orbit. Some more than others. I can't wait to see Uranus again!

reply to post by DrMattMaddix

BTW... All of the planets orbits, even our own planet, have a wobble or otherwise elliptical orbit. Some more than others. I can't wait to see Uranus again!

Yep, that is called eccentricity. The wobble of the planets themselves is called precession.

[edit on 5/16/2009 by jkrog08]

reply to post by jkrog08


uh, oh. Your astronomy prof would be very disappointed.

Precession is the wobble of the rotational axis of a planet. Orbits don't really wobble but the variation from circularity is called eccentricity.

reply to post by Phage


LOL, I thought that was what he was talking about. I was worried he wasn't talking about that though. My bad.. I am trying to do to many things at once.


Edited last post accordingly.


[edit on 5/16/2009 by jkrog08]

It looks like Jupiter and Neptune are behind our Moon and we are getting closer to them as well, approaching opposition anyway.

This looks interesting, I'm not sure about the rise times in Australia but for the West coast of America;

1. Moon rises at 1:50am
   
   
2. Jupiter at 2:26am
   
   
3. Neptune also at 2:26am
   
   
4. Uranus at 3:29
   
   
5. Venus at 4am
   
   
6. Mars at 4:15am
   
   
7. And finally our Sun
   

All the planets are trying to hide behind our Moon.

Pretty busy morning ahead, I doubt there will be time left over to squeeze Nibiru in unless it's hiding behind our Moon as well.

Add: The celestial program I use is Celestia.

[edit on 5/16/2009 by Devino]