(Posted 17 February 2013) This Monday (18 February 2013) Jupiter will either be occulted by the Moon or have an extremely close encounter with the Moon. Residents of Adelaide, Hobart, Melbourne and Perth will be treated to the sight of Jupiter quickly fading from view as it disappears behind the unlit side of the Moon and then reappears sometime later on the sunlit (left) side of the Moon. Even a casual observer in the above cities without any optical aid (i.e. binoculars or telescope) looking at the Moon at the correct time will see Jupiter disappear from view.
The above chart shows the location of Jupiter in relationship to the Moon on the night of Monday 18 February 2013. Obervers in Sydney, Canberra and Brisbane will only see Jupiter have a close encounter with the Moon with closest approach around 11.08 pm AEST (add one hour if your location follows Daylight savings time). Astronomers refer to this type of close encounter as a conjunction.
| City | Disappearance | Reappearance |
| Adelaide | 10.00 pm | 10.37 pm |
| Hobart | 10.21 pm | 11.13 pm |
| Melbourne | 10.33 pm | 11.10 pm |
| Perth | 7.39 pm | 8.45 pm |
The above chart lists disappearance (or using astronomical terms an occultation) and reappearance times for Jupiter for Adelaide, Hobart, Melbourne and Perth. Note that these times are NOT corrected for daylight savings time. Add one hour if you live in those cities and you are currently on Summer Time.
If you are lucky enough to live in Adelaide, Hobart, Melbourne or Perth and own a telescope, don’t forget to watch the occultation using your telescope. The below Youtube video (by Rafael Defavari in Brazil) captures how amazing the occultation will look through a telescope.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7fwcy-W4hE
Finally, if you have never seen a planet in the sky before, Jupiter’s very close encounter with the Moon will enable you to find Jupiter without any trouble. Jupiter appears to the unaided eye as a very bright star.
RT @Nightskyonline: Moon occults Jupiter as seen from Southern Australia this Monday night: (Posted 17 February 2013) This Monday (18… …
RT @Nightskyonline: Moon occults Jupiter as seen from Southern Australia this Monday night: (Posted 17 February 2013) This Monday (18… …
That big star next to the moon? That’s Jupiter.
Hi there big planet! Nice work on sucking in all those asteroids. Keep up the good work! *waves*
What is that light next to the moon
I saw this last night in Canberra (18/02/2013) at approx 11.30. The moon was very low down and Jupiter looked very bright. Thank you for your web page as I did not know at the time what the small very bright light close to the moon was.
Tom,
Glad to be of help.
Regards,
Paul Floyd.
Adrian,
It was Jupiter.
Regards,
Paul Floyd.
I was on my way home slightly after 10 on that evening and observed an light effect near the near, but didn’t know what it was. Photographed it but it will be a poor image. I live in the Blue Mountains, near Sydney – but it looks as if it was not supposed to be visible to us?
amend that “the near” to read “the moon” please.
Jennifer,
There was a bit of misinformation about the event reported by one Sydney radio station that I know of. They were informed incorrectly that the occultation would be visible from Sydney – which wasn’t the case. So, from Sydney, Jupiter merely had a close encounter with the Moon.
Regards,
Paul Floyd.