Jupiter at Opposition

Come and see the King of the planets from the UK's best dark skies Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet in the Solar System. This special event heralds the opposition of Jupiter, offering some of the best viewing of this majestic planet, named after the Roman god Jupiter. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth of that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in the Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Together, these four planets are sometimes referred to as the Jovian or outer planets. The planet was known by astronomers of ancient times. Observing Jupiter through our powerful telescopes is a true "wow" moment, the moons orbiting the planet will dance around as the night progresses, showing you what the great Galileo saw at the dawn of the telescope itself, but now in true high definition. The clouds, the red spot...truly incredible to see. When viewed from Earth, under truly dark skies Jupiter can be bright enough to cast shadows.... This is what we regularly see at Kielder!!