For any stargazers pining for a glimpse at Jupiter, tonight is the night to break out the telescope. Earth is just about to pass directly between Jupiter and the sun, making this the brightest that the gas giant will glow in the night sky for the entire year. 
 
 Starting at 6 AM on March 8, Jupiter will directly oppose the sun, appearing to rise as the sun sets. So as long as skies are clear, the planet will show off its sparkling face after nightfall and will continue to be easily spotted from dusk till dawn for several days. At its peak, the giant planet will appear brighter than any other stars and the second-brightest planet after Venus. 
 
 Jupiter will also be at its closest tonight, meaning even those without telescopes can get a great view, Geoff Gaherty writes for Space.com. To find it, just look for Leo. Right now, Jupiter lingers in the southern regions of the constellation, shining nearly 30 times brighter than the nearby star Regulus, Deborah Byrd writes for EarthSky.org. 
 
 If Jupiter alone isn't enough of a treat, its moons should provide plenty of entertainment. Upwards of 60 different moons orbit the gas giant, but are usually too tiny to spot with the naked eye. The four largest moons (Io, Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa) are visible alongside Jupiter even with just a set of binoculars. First observed by Galileo Galilei in 1610, the four moons, which are known as the “Galilean Moons,” are some of the solar system’s most intriguing objects. 
 
 According to NASA, Io is the most volcanically active object in our solar system, and is shrouded in thick clouds of multicolored sulfur. Europa, on the other hand, is cloaked by a thick sheet of ice, which astronomers believe may cover a massive ocean of liquid water or slushy ice—a potential spot for lurking life. 
 
 Callisto has the oldest landscape in the solar system and is riddled with craters that can provide astronomers with a physical record of our planetary system's earliest days. Meanwhile Io is the largest moon in our solar system and is the only one that generates its own magnetic field. 
 
 With a small telescope aimed at the sky, eagle-eyed viewers can watch as the four moons zip through their orbits around the giant planet. On the night of March 14, almost week after Jupiter enters opposition, stargazers will get a chance to see Europa and Io transit in between Jupiter and the Earth, with Europa beginning its journey at 9:27 P.M. EST, and Io following shortly after at 10:12 P.M, according to Astronomy Magazine. 
 
 Although Jupiter enters opposition once a year, the exact timing varies because of differences between Earth’s orbit and the gas giant’s. It takes about 13 months for the Earth to get back in position between Jupiter and the sun, which means that each year opposition occurs a month later than the year before. 
 
 So cross your fingers for a clear night and point your eyes to the skies to catch Jupiter shining bright. ||||| Our planet Earth flies between the sun and the outer planet Jupiter on May 8 (if you’re in the Americas or Pacific) or May 9 (for time zones in the rest of the world). That passage places Jupiter – largest world in our solar system, and a very bright planet in our sky – opposite the sun. In other words, Jupiter is now rising in the east as the sun is setting below the western horizon. Astronomers call this event an opposition of Jupiter. 
 
 Opposition marks the middle of the best time of year to see a planet. That’s because it’s when the planet is up all night and generally closest for the year (the exact date of Jupiter at its closest this year is May 10). 
 
 Your astronomical calendar for 2018 likely gives the date and time of Jupiter’s 2018 opposition as May 9 at 1 UTC. That translates to May 8 at 8 p.m. Central Daylight Time in North America (translate UTC to your time). 
 
 Rising in the east around sunset, Jupiter climbs highest in the sky at midnight. It sets in the west around sunrise. Jupiter is always bright; it’s the largest planet in our solar system. It shines more brightly than any star in the evening sky. 
 
 With the exception of the sun and moon, only Venus – the brightest planet, now in the west after sunset – outshines Jupiter. Try catching both Venus and Jupiter at nightfall now. Venus will be blazing low in the west and Jupiter, a bit fainter but still brighter than any star, will be shining in the east. Venus will set as Jupiter ascends in the eastern sky. 
 
 At this 2018 opposition, Jupiter shines in front of the constellation Libra the Scales. The closest 2nd-magnitude star to Jupiter is Zubenelgenubi, Libra’s alpha star. Dazzling Jupiter – a planet in our own solar system and much closer to us than any star – outshines Zubenelgenubi by over 100 times. 
 
 Jupiter comes to opposition about every 13 months. That’s how long Earth takes to travel once around the sun relative to Jupiter. As a result – according to our earthly calendars – Jupiter’s opposition comes about a month later each year. 
 
 Last year – in 2017 – Jupiter’s opposition date was April 7. 
 
 Next year – in 2019 – it’ll be June 10. 
 
 Astronomer Guy Ottewell has a great post at his blog this week on Jupiter’s opposition and its location in our sky this year. The charts below (used with permission) are from Guy: 
 
 There’s a NASA spacecraft orbiting Jupiter now. The Juno spacecraft’s orbit carries it low over Jupiter’s poles, providing never-before-seen glimpses of the giant planet’s polar regions. Jupiter isn’t a rocky planet like Earth. It’s more like a failed star, not massive enough or hot enough inside to spark thermonuclear fusion reactions, but some 2.5 times more massive than all the other planets in our solar system combined. Jupiter shows us nature magnified! Check out the video below, which provides an infrared view of the massive cyclones at Jupiter’s poles: 
 
 Take an infrared tour of #Jupiter in a new 3-D flyover movie showing massive cyclones in the planet’s north pole. More news from #EGU18 https://t.co/mxwSOX9b0O pic.twitter.com/U1XbeY0AkW — NASA's Juno Mission (@NASAJuno) April 11, 2018 
 
 Bottom line: Look for Jupiter on the night of May 8-9, 2018, as this world comes to opposition, the point opposite the sun in our sky. You’d need some 80 Jupiters – rolled into a ball – to be hot enough inside for thermonuclear reactions … for Jupiter to shine as stars do. Yet on this May night – as Jupiter rises opposite the sun – you can imagine it beaming down on us as a tiny sun all night long. 
 
 Read more: How to see Jupiter’s moons 
 
 Donate: Your support means the world to us ||||| For the first time in more than 10 years, it will be possible to see all five bright planets together in the sky. Around an hour or so before sunrise, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, the five planets that have been observed since ancient times, will appear in a line that stretches from high in the north to low in the east. 
 
 The planets are visible from right across Australia in the dawn sky. You can start to look for the lineup from Wednesday, January 20 and it can be seen right through until the end of February. 
 
 Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn have been in the morning sky since the beginning of the year. Jupiter is bright in the north, next comes reddish Mars, followed by pale Saturn and lastly brilliant Venus, which shines above the eastern horizon. It is the appearance of Mercury that makes the family complete. 
 
 Mercury has just transitioned from an evening object to a morning object. At first it will appear quite low to the eastern horizon and of all the planets it is also the faintest, so it will be hard to see to begin with. However, Mercury will continue to rise higher each morning and by early February it will sit just below bright Venus. 
 
 Dates with the moon 
 
 If you need something a little more to get you leaping out of bed before sunrise, then here are the dates to mark in your calendar. From the end of January, the moon will travel by each planet and can be used as an easy guide for your planet-spotting. 
 
 On January 28, the moon will be right next to Jupiter. Come February 1, the moon (in its Last Quarter phase) will be alongside Mars, then on the following morning it’ll sit just below the red planet. On the morning of February 4, the crescent moon will be near Saturn. Then on February 6, the moon will be alongside Venus and on February 7, a thin sliver of moon will sit below Mercury. 
 
 Museum Victoria/Stellarium 
 
 In line with the sun 
 
 The line formed by the planets in the sky closely follows the ecliptic, the apparent path of the sun against the background stars. This path marks the plane of our solar system, visual proof that the planets, including Earth, all orbit the sun on roughly the same plane. 
 
 The ecliptic is bordered by the constellations of the zodiac and one of the most recognisable zodiac constellations is Scorpius. If you’re awake before the first rays of the sun begin to drown out the stars, then look for the curved outline of the scorpion between Mars and Saturn. In fact, sitting just above Saturn is the red supergiant star Antares, which marks the heart of the scorpion and its reddish colour makes it the perfect rival for Mars. 
 
 Rare oddity 
 
 It’s been a long time since the orbits of all five planets have brought them together to the same patch of sky. To make the best of the viewing opportunity try and get to a clear open space where you can see from the north all the way across to the eastern horizon. 
 
 from www.theplanetstoday.com 
 
 As early February comes around, I also highly recommend checking out the flight path of the International Space Station via websites such as Heavens Above or NASA’s Spot the Station. 
 
 The Station will be flying morning passes over Australia during that time and current predictions for each capital city have it travelling right through or near the line of planets, for example: Darwin (February 3), Brisbane (February 5), Perth (February 6), Sydney (February 7), Canberra (February 7), Adelaide (February 8), Melbourne (February 9) and Hobart (February 11). The predictions can change slightly, so best to check the websites closer to the date and be sure to enter your precise location to obtain the most accurate timing for the pass. 
 
 Finally, there’s still more to come. This August the five planets will be together again, visible in the evening sky, so stay tuned for more planet watching in 2016. ||||| Jupiter reaches opposition with the sun on March 8, at 6 a.m. EST. Since it is directly opposite the sun in the sky, it rises just as the sun sets, remains visible all night long, and sets as the sun rises. 
 
 Jupiter is now the brightest object in the night sky with the exception of the moon and the International Space Station. There's no difficulty telling the difference between Jupiter and the space station, because Jupiter appears stationary, while the orbiting laboratory moves across the sky rapidly, taking about 5 minutes to cross. 
 
 The largest planet in our solar system, Jupiter is more than 11 times the diameter of Earth, and is more than 300 times as massive. Although it has a solid core, Jupiter is mostly made of hydrogen and helium gas. Near the planet's core, the hydrogen exists in a metallic form (meaning it conducts electricity). The planet's rapid rotation (less than 10 hours) causes its atmosphere to be drawn out into the darker belts and brighter zones seen on its surface. [Don't Miss These 12 Must-See Skywatching Events of 2016] 
 
 Jupiter is currently located in the southern part of the constellation Leo, the lion. The planet is about a third of the way between the bright stars Regulus in Leo and Spica in Virgo. Seeing Jupiter in Leo brings back memories of my first night as a serious stargazer, when in 1957 I saw Jupiter for the first time, and identified the stars and constellations around it. 
 
 Leo makes a very distinctive pattern in the stars, and has two parts: a sickle or reversed question mark on the right and a right triangle on the left (as seen from the Northern Hemisphere). Regulus marks the dot on the bottom of the question mark, and Denebola the far angle of the triangle. Leo contains one of the finest double stars in the sky, Algieba, which is just above Regulus, and several bright galaxies, especially Messier 65 and 66, just under the right angle of the triangle. 
 
 Just to the right of Leo is the dim constellation Cancer, which is mainly notable for containing one of the nearest and brightest open clusters of stars, Praesepe, or the Beehive, No. 44 in Charles Messier's catalog of deep-sky objects. This cluster, 590 light-years distant, is actually brighter than any of the individual stars in the constellation. 
 
 To Leo's left is the huge constellation Virgo, which contains many more galaxies than it does stars. Its brightest star, Spica, represents a sheaf of wheat in the hand of the virgin, a harbinger of spring. 
 
 Above Virgo is the constellation Boötes, which contains Arcturus, the third brightest star in the sky, outshone only by Sirius and Canopus. Boötes is supposed to be a herdsman, but always looks more like a kite to me. 
 
 If you own binoculars, try mounting them solidly and see if you can see Jupiter's four brightest moons. These were one of the first major discoveries made by Galileo in 1609 with his newly constructed telescope. He realized within a few days that these tiny spots of light were in orbit around the planet, and he used this to help prove Copernicus' model of a sun-centered system of planets. 
 
 Jupiter's moons are fascinating to watch in even the smallest telescopes. They can be seen shifting positions in less than an hour, and often pass in front of or behind Jupiter itself. When passing in front of Jupiter, they cast their shadows on the giant planet's face. 
 
 The cloud tops of Jupiter's thick atmosphere are clearly visible in amateur telescopes. Two dark cloud belts parallel its equator, with thinner cloud belts visible toward its poles. It has a famous cyclonic feature in its upper atmosphere with a distinctive salmon-pink color, known as the Great Red Spot. This has been followed by astronomers for several centuries, making it the oldest and largest storm system in the solar system, about three times the size of the Earth.
– People in other parts of the world are being treated to a solar eclipse this week, but Americans get a consolation prize with a terrific view of Jupiter in the night sky. Earth is passing between the sun and Jupiter, making the planet as bright as it will be for the entire year, reports Smithsonian. In fact, only the moon and the International Space Station will be brighter, notes Space.com. You'll find Jupiter in the constellation Leo, and the website has a diagram and more specifics of where to look. The best part is you can catch a glimpse of Jupiter at pretty much any time, adds a post at EarthSky.org: "You can see it in the east at nightfall and early evening [starting Tuesday]. Around midnight, when the sun is below your feet, Jupiter appears high overhead. At dawn tomorrow, you’ll see Jupiter low in your western sky." The planet will be easily visible for several days. As for that solar eclipse, if you don't happen to live in Indonesia, CNN notes that you can watch it via a NASA livestream here, beginning at 8pm Eastern Tuesday.