Twist Issue 157 January 2024

Tw st
30
ITH the Christmas and New Year
celebrations upon us, and Spring
warmth and light still some time away,
January is many people's least favourite time
of the year.
Let us try and remedy that by seeking out the
planet Jupiter, known to astrologers as "the
bringer of joy". When classical composer Gustav
Holst wrote his Planets Suite in the 1910s, his
"Jupiter, The Bringer Of Jollity" was very
intentionally the most uplifting and buoyant of the
pieces.
Due to its obvious brightness in the sky, Jupiter
has been known since ancient times, and the
earliest records of observing it go all the way
back to the Babylonians in at least 700BC.
By the time of the ancient Romans a little later in
history, they had named the bright object in
honour of their sky god 'Jove'. Even today, when
we describe something joyous or merry as 'Jovial'
then we are literally saying that it is "of Jupiter" or
"of Jove".
Jupiter is an excellent target this Winter for a
couple of reasons: firstly due to its appearance at
a reasonable time of the evening and night, and
secondly due to its position being far away from
anything else of comparable brightness, making it
very simple to pick out in its area of the sky.
Jupiter is currently located in Aries, one of the
zodiac constellations, but we are going to use a much simpler
trick to find it using Polaris. For this trick to work, we'll be doing
our observing between 6-8pm. Check the end of this article for
the perfect time to make this trick work, depending when in
January you try it.
Firstly use The Plough to locate Polaris the Pole Star and find
North, and also take note of the Pole Star's approximate height
above the horizon.
If we're doing this at the correct time, then Jupiter will be
located approximately due-south, and at approximately the same
height above the horizon as Polaris is!
Simply turn around from North to face South instead, check the
sky at the same height at Polaris, and Jupiter should be the
brightest, most obvious object
in this area of the sky.
If you're observing earlier
than the suggested time, then
Jupiter will be lower in the sky,
Chesterfield astronomer
Phil Unsworth (above)
says the New Year
brings an opportunity
for all of us to enjoy
studying Jupiter. You
can contact Phil at
spire.astronomy
@gmail.com or visit
www.darkskytelescope
hire.co.uk
Images: NASA Jet Propulsion Lab JPL
Jovial month for stargazers
W
and closer to the south-east. Later than the
suggested time and Jupiter will have travelled
into the south-west or even west, always getting
lower and lower in the sky.
Once you've found Jupiter for the first time, try
to spot it at different hours, in other parts of the
sky. If you're observing during the couple of
hours between regular sunset and astronomical
sunset, then Jupiter will be one of the only
targets visible at all, near the eastern horizon.
During the later evening and night, Jupiter
travels through the southern sky and will
eventually set in the west sometime between 1-
2am.
If you happen to own even a modest telescope
or a set of birdwatching binoculars, then Jupiter
is a great target, with plenty of spectacular
features.
Take the time to stabilise your stance and for
your eyes to adjust properly to the darkness,
then focus on the planet. You might be able to
pick out the contrasting stripes, which are
various cloud belts within Jupiter's atmosphere,
or perhaps the famous 'Great Red Spot', which is
a colossal tornado-style storm.
Interestingly we still don't have a definite
answer as to what generates the red colouration
of the storm. You may also be able to spot up to
four bright points surrounding Jupiter. These are
the Io, Callisto, Ganymede and Europa, the four Galilean
Moons, which are too faint and distant to be spotted with the
naked eye.
In the early-1600s, Galileo made enough improvements to
telescopes of the era to reveal the moons. January 7th, 1610,
witnessed his first written records of spotting these new objects.
The discovery of the four moons was the first proof that there
were faint objects out there, unseen by the naked eye, but
findable with the newly-powerful telescopes, just waiting to be
revealed.
Astronomers today continue the work that Galileo began,
improving telescope technology, and discovering smaller and
fainter moons. Last February, three more newly-found moons
• In early January, Jupiter will be due-south at about 7.30pm.
• In mid-January, Jupiter will be due-south at about 7pm.
• In late January, Jupiter will be due-south at about 6.30pm.
were announced, and as of
the end of 2023, Jupiter has
an official count of 95 moons.
Will 2024 see 'The Bringer Of
Joy' pass 100?