2022-09-20
Unique Jupiter opposition on 26th September 2022: This year Jupiter opposition is the closest one in 70 years making Jupiter’s equatorial diameter as large as 49.9 arcsec as observed from Earth. The opposition occurs on 26 September 2022. A few days later, the Juno mission will make its 45 Perijove of Jupiter on 29 September at 17:11:30 UTC. During this perijove Juno will perform a very close flyby of Europa at an altitude of only 320 km obtaining the most detailed observations of its surface from space. Europa will be a target of 1.1'' during those days close to opposition.
Amateur astronomers are invited to cover this perijove with observations of Jupiter and Europa with the added spatial resolution over Jupiter provided by the exceptional opposition and the possibly family portraits of the Jupiter system that can be obtained on those dates.