- Oct 28, 2011 from 16:00 to 22:00 UTC-04
- Location: FAU Astronomical Observatory
- Latest Activity: Sep 23, 2020
On the evening of Friday the 28th of October, the FAU Astronomical Observatory will be celebrating Jupiter's Opposition to the Sun. As Jupiter, has passed the perihelion point in its orbit back in February, so the Earth and Jupiter will not be this close again for another decade.
Date: Friday October 28th - Saturday October 29th 2011.
Time: 8:00 pm until 2:00 am.
Activities: Presentations about and Observations of the 2011 Jupiter's Opposition to the Sun!
Details: A planet in opposition means that the Earth will be as close as we can be to the planet for this orbital pass. On October 28th, the planet Jupiter will be at opposition to the Sun. Through out the night we'll get to observe a variety of events that will also occur. Jupiter's moon Io will be occulted and eclipsed at 9:44 pm, while this will not be visible to us, it will be discussed why it is unique to the night. Jupiter's Great Red Spot (GRS) will emerge from its far side at 10:30 pm. Io will appear from behind Jupiter at 10:47 pm. The GRS will reach mid-transit at 12 midnight and finally return to Jupiter's far side by 1:30 am.
While lately "Rose" might be a better descriptive color for it, the Great Red Spot is Jupiter's famous "hurricane" storm that is three times the size of the Earth! The timing of its transit on this particular night will provide an excellent opportunity to see it as well!
Presentations: The presentation that will be provided will provide information about Jupiter and its moons and lead into a discussion about the formation of the solar system, how some of our information about Jupiter conflicts with this formation theory, present newer interesting theories about how it could have occurred and finally a bit about the recently launched Juno spacecraft, which may help answer some of these questions.
Come celebrate and observe the planet at opposition, while pondering some of the astronomical mysteries that are connected with it. This invitation is open to anyone from FAU, the community, their friends and family to come and enjoy.
After all, it is their universe, too!
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