Jupiter To Have Large Negative Magnitude This Weekend (That's Good)

“The planet should be highly visible to the naked eye; with Jupiter’s apparent magnitude of -2.94, only the moon will be brighter after Venus sets relatively early in the evening. Apparent magnitude is a measure of an object’s luminosity as viewed from Earth; faint objects have large positive magnitudes, whereas bright objects have large negative magnitudes. When Jupiter and Earth draw near, the nearly full moon will shine with an apparent magnitude of -11.87. Jupiter will be visible in the direction of the constellation Pisces, appearing to the east and low in the sky at sunset, before moving toward the south as the night progresses. With a decent set of binoculars, stargazers may be able to identify Jupiter’s four largest satellites, the Galilean moons Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.”
–The big huge giant planet Jupiter will be passing closer to Earth than it has in 47 years Monday. We can see it with our naked eyes this weekend. I can’t make any promises about how clear the skies will be, but here’s a reminder to look up.