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Cloudy weather plays truant, hides Super Jupiter from enthusiasts

Planet Watch: Jupiter visible only intermittently on Monday when it was at its brightest

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A file photo of a fullmoon in Ahmedabad. The cloudy weather meant Amdavadis could only get an intermittent view of Super Jupiter
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On Monday, many astronomy enthusiast in the city flocked to Science City to get a glance of Super Jupiter, but weather played a spoil sport. For, the sudden change in weather leading to dusty winds in both Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar ensured that those gathered could not get a glimpse of the planet.

The Science City had earlier extended its working upto 8 pm to ensure school children and others could come to the centre and make use of its telescope to view the planet. On Monday night, Jupiter was at its biggest, brightest and most visible position in the sky.

"Jupiter is positioned directly opposite the Sun from the Earth point of view. All the three will be in a linear line. Though the planet will be closest to Earth, it will still be at least 450 million km away," said Narottam Sahoo, advisor, Gujarat Council of Science and Technology.

"Due to the cloudy weather, it was visible only intermittently and so that was a dampner, but we are hopeful that if the weather improves it will eventually be seen," said Sahoo.

He said that Jupiter will be visible to the naked eye in absence of clouds. "As the sun will set, Jupiter will rise in the east and at midnight it will be directly above us," said Sahoo.

Using a telescope or binoculars, one can also spot four of Jupiter's moons, Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, on both sides of the planet, he added. "However those who don't have a telescope or binoculars need not be bothered because it can be easily spotted in the sky . The moon will be the brightest and the element that is the second brightest will be Jupiter," said Sahoo.

It should be noted that this phenomenon occurs every 13 months and the next time Earth and Jupiter will be this close to each other will be during July 2020.

Galileo Galilei first observed Jupiter closely in 1610 using a telescope of his own design. The planet is 11 times the size of Earth. With its 79 moons, Jupiter is kind of like a mini solar system and it takes the planet approximately 12 earth years to orbit the sun.

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