Stargazing Live
With Astronomy Ireland throughout January
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Each evening this month (Monday to Friday), Astronomy Ireland will host Jupiter watches at its premises in Swords to coincide with the BBC hit show Stargazing Live. Through the telescopes you will easily see Jupiter's vast cloud belts and storms, as well as its biggest moons as they orbit the planet. Seeing Jupiter through a telescope is a sight you won't forget!
This is a free event and a great opportunity for friends and family to get together and try some astronomy. All Watches will run from 4pm to 6pm.
While this will look stunning with the naked eye, you can get even better views with binoculars or a telescope, which will reveal amazing detail on the surface of the Moon and the Galilean moons orbiting Jupiter.
Facts about Jupiter
- Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet in the Solar System.
- Jupiter's volume is equal to 1,321 Earths, yet is only 318 times as massive.
- Jupiter's broad magnetic field is 14 times as strong as the Earth's.
- The average distance between Jupiter and the Sun is 778 million km (about 5.2 times the average distance from the Earth to the Sun)
- It takes 4331.572 (11.86 years) earth days for the Jupiter to come around the Sun.
- One day on Jupiter is equal to 10 hours on Earth..
- Jupiter is named after the ancient King of Roman Gods.
- The best known feature of Jupiter is the Great Red Spot. It is a storm that has been going on for over 300 years. You can fit 100 earths into the Great Red Spot.
- Jupiter has 63 named moons. Almost all of them are less than 10 kilometres in diameter. he four largest moons, known as the "Galilean Moons", are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Ganymede, is the largest moon in the Solar System, measuring 5262 km across.
- Jupiter has a ring just like Saturn and Uranus.
