Reach Jupiter Today, Friday, January 20, 2023, the giant of our solar system will reach its closest point to the sun – perihelion – and the distance separating it from the sun will be 740 million km.
revealed Jeddah Astronomical Society In her report, that this happens several months after the planet reached the state of convergence with the sun in the earth’s sky on September 26, when the earth passed in its orbit between Jupiter and the sun. The orbits of the Earth and Jupiter around the Sun are semi-circular, and they revolve around the Sun at about the same level, but in both cases they are not the same.
The orbit of Jupiter is elliptical, not circular, so the distance between Jupiter and the sun varies. Likewise, the orbit of the Earth is elliptical, not circular, and the distance between us and the sun varies, as Jupiter takes 11.9 Earth years to complete its turn around the sun, while the Earth takes one year.
Earth’s perihelion – or its closest point to the sun – occurs every year around January 4. Jupiter’s perihelion is not entirely consistent.
Jupiter passed aphelion – its farthest point from the Sun in its orbit – on February 18, 2017, and since that time, the planet has been getting closer to the Sun – little by little, closer and closer, however, the change in Earth’s distance (relative to the Sun) is small compared to Jupiter’s. So while Jupiter was closer to Earth in September 2022, it will be closer to the sun in January 2023, and for this reason Jupiter is not closer to the sun when our planet passes between Jupiter and the sun, knowing that the distance between Jupiter and the sun does not affect its appearance.
In addition, the difference in distance between perihelion and aphelion is only about 10.2%. This means that the difference in the amount of heat and light that Jupiter receives from the Sun between aphelion and perihelion is very small.
The planet Jupiter is observed in the sky of the Arab world this Friday evening, after sunset and the beginning of the night above the southwestern horizon, and it remains visible for several hours, and it will appear as a bright white point to the observer with the naked eye. Galileo: Ganymede, Callisto, Europa, Iowa – where they appear as small points of light near Jupiter.