Solar Systems Giant - Jupiter

Jupter is the largest planet. This fact plus its shear size make it the second brightest dot in the night sky (venus gets brighter) even though it gets over 6AU away(AU Astronomical Units 1AU is the distance from here to the Sun). This gas giant has four moons that are visable through even the smallest telescope (a lot more through the largest).

Because the planets are always moving, in relation to the stars around them, there is no way I can point you directly to them without providing monthlyor bi-monthly starmaps. Even so you can still find Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn due to there brightness. It will help to get a copy of Astronomy or Sky & Telescope magazine for the present month to know where, when, and if these planets are visible.
These magazines provide monthly sky charts showing the planets. A free software program called Home Planet can be very useful for finding Planets. It can be down loaded by following the above link.

---

Created: 5/30/00 Updated: 5/30/00