Time: 5:45-6:30pm CST
Weather: Partly Cloudy with 5-10 mph winds - Temp: 56 (F)
Location: Port Barrington, IL
Just after dusk in the midwest, our 5th and largest planet in the solar system is visible in the southern sky during the Fall. Jupiter is one of the four gas giants which means it is not primarily composed of solid matter. As mentioned, it is the largest planet in the Solar System, having a diameter of 142,984 km. Jupiter's density, 1.326 g/cm³, is the second highest of the gas giant planets, but lower than any of the four inner planets. The average distance between Jupiter and the Sun is 778 million km (about 5.2 times the average distance from the Earth to the Sun, or 5.2 AU) and it completes an orbit every 11.86 years.
Jupiter's apparent magnitude is approximately -2.27 which means this celestial body is one of the brightest objects in the evening sky other than our moon. Its cloud bands or Latitudes are visible even when using a 40mm eyepiece. One can visually make out its creme and brown cloud patterns. I took the picture above using a Barlow 2x lense coupled with a 10mm eyepiece/digital camera (Starshoot SS Camera II 1.3mp). On this evening Jupiter's four Galilean moons were in view: Europa, Ganymede, Callisto and Io (not pictured).
Some info provided by Wikipedia
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