Don't Miss Jupiter Tonight and Tomorrow

Mindy Cohn

Tonight, Jupiter will be at perigee, or its closest location to Earth, making the planet and its moons easy to spot. 

Look for a bright object in the sky ascending in the east on November 1-2. At this time, Jupiter will be 370 million miles away from Earth and 462 million miles away from the sun, according to EarthSky.

On the night of November 2-3, less than 24 hours later, Jupiter will reach opposition. This is when Earth goes between the sun and Jupiter, placing Jupiter opposite the sun in our sky. At this point, Jupiter will be visible all night long and will be at its brightest compared to any other time of the year.

If looking through a telescope, Jupiter's four largest moons, Callisto, Europa, Ganymede, and Io, will also be visible. These are the largest of over 80 moons. The moons will look like small specks close to the planet and can even be seen with a modest pair of binoculars, according to Astronomy.com.