February 10, 2026 02:03 pm (IST)
Follow us:
Jupiter comes closest to Earth tonight
New Delhi/Kolkata, Feb 6 (IBNS): Planet Jupiter will come closest to Earth on Friday night coming to within 404 million miles (650 million kilometers) of planet.
Earth passes more or less between the sun and Jupiter, placing Jupiter opposite the sun in our sky. Astronomers call this event an opposition of Jupiter. The 2015 opposition is Jupiter’s closest until 2019.
The “Opposition of Jupiter” takes place approximately after every 13 months. All the four Galilean Satellites of Jupiter will become brighter and the planet will be visible from just after sunset though the exact time of opposition is 11:50 PM I.S.T.
Jupiter is in Cancer constellation now, according to Sanjib Sen, Director, Positional Astronomy Centre, Kolkata and the planet is having an angular diameter of 45 Arc-second.
The moon will also be brighter after the full moon day of Feb 3 and the sight of Jupiter is really a phenomenon to watch in the night sky on Friday.
Birla Industrial & Technological Museum in Kolkata made arrangements for viewing this astronomical event through telescope on Friday from 6 pm to 8 pm. Along with sky observation, a multimedia presentation on ‘opposition of Jupiter’ was also be available for the visiting public.
A good number of people assembled there to watch Jupiter, the biggest planet of our solar system.
There was a huge gathering at BITM even after the stipulated time of 8 PM as people from all walks of life waited patiently for their turn to watch Jupiter with its three Galilean satellite out of four visible Friday night.
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.
Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
Latest Headlines
India’s space boom: 399 Start-ups, $8.4 billion economy and counting, says Minister
Fri, Jan 30 2026
Moon hotel is coming: Space tourists can book a stay for $1 million
Tue, Jan 20 2026
After 50 years, humans are going back to the Moon — NASA’s Artemis II launch is days away
Sat, Jan 17 2026
NASA and DOE plan a lunar power reactor — Could this change life on the Moon by 2030?
Wed, Jan 14 2026