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Wales Online
Wales Online
National
Tom Gibbon

Stargazers will get an amazing close-up of Jupiter tonight as it shines bright next to the moon

You may already have noticed a brighter-than-usual star in the sky over the past couple of nights.

Only it's not a star at all - it's the biggest planet in our solar system, Jupiter - and the best view of it for a year is due in the early hours tomorrow, Tuesday May 21.

Jupiter is already shining brighter than the stars visible in the sky as its orbit is almost at the point where it makes its closest pass to Earth for the year.

And while it may look like it's sitting close to our own moon soon after midnight, it's just a line of sight effect - it's actually 1,685 times further away from our planet than the moon - or 652million kilometers.

Expert website Astronomy Now says: "Shining conspicuously at magnitude -2.6, Jupiter is already brighter than any star visible in the nighttime sky, the planet fast approaching its closest approach to Earth for the year.

"Opposition to the Sun occurs on June 10, but Jupiter and Earth are nearest two days later at a distance of 4.284 astronomical units or 641 million kilometres (398 million miles).

"At 1am BST on May 21, Jupiter lies almost 652million kilometres from Earth and appears slightly larger than 45 arcseconds in diameter."

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