How to see Jupiter from the SF Bay Area on Monday night - SFGATE

Jupiter will be the closest it’s been to Earth in nearly six decades on Monday night, according to a news release from NASA — and there’s a good chance you’ll be able to see the fifth planet from the sun glowing in the night sky from the San Francisco Bay Area. .

That’s because Jupiter will be at opposition, meaning it will be on the opposite end of the Earth from the sun, which happens every 13 months and makes the planet appear larger in the sky than any other time of the year, Jon Rees, a support astronomer for the Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton, told SFGATE in an email Monday morning. .

“By eye, Jupiter will look like a very bright star,” Rees said.

All of this is provided that the fog stays away, said David Prosper, a night sky network administrator with the Astronomical Society of the Pacific in San Francisco.

That said, if you’re trying to catch a glimpse of the night sky, the higher you are elevation-wise, the better

But the good news is that while Jupiter will be closest to the Earth on Monday night, it will remain at a similar proximity for the next few weeks, so the view on Tuesday or later in the week likely won’t be too different, Burress said.