How to see Jupiter from the Bay Area tonight

As dusk falls Thursday, the fifth planet from the sun is expected to move within just five degrees of the moon, which is in its waxing gibbous phase. “That’s less than the size of your fist held up to the sky,” said Ben Burress, a staff astronomer for the Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland. “At sunset, the pair will be high in the east, visible to anyone as long as the weather cooperates. They will move westward through the night, setting a bit after 2 a.m.”

Jupiter will appear as a bright dot in the sky with a slightly yellow or golden hue, and like all planets, it won’t twinkle like stars do, Burress said. If you want to take a look, a pair of binoculars will come in handy — you should be able to make out distinct features on the moon’s surface not visible with the naked eye. There may even be a chance to see Jupiter’s disk as well as its four large Galilean moons — Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.

Saturn will also be visible in the low western sky until about 9 p.m., Burress said. 

The phenomenon isn’t all that unusual; nonetheless, it’s mesmerizing to see. Each month, the moon makes a full circle around the sky, passing every planet, and depending on how the planets are positioned relative to each other during their orbit, more rare events can occur in which the moon is visible next to two, three or more planets, Burress said. On this night in December 2020, astronomy enthusiasts were treated to a “great conjunction” or “Christmas star,” when Jupiter and Saturn were the closest they had been to each other in 400 years, generating an especially bright glow.

Unfortunately, skywatchers this year will be battling against less than ideal viewing conditions, said Alexis Clouser, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service’s Bay Area office.

“It will be drier but it looks like it’s still going to be fairly cloudy,” Clouser said over the phone Wednesday morning. “I will say it looks like the North Bay, particularly far northern Napa and Sonoma counties, will have a better chance with a few breaks and partly cloudy skies between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m.” 

If anything, you can still try observing the asteroid Vesta with binoculars or a small telescope, which is expected to be visible for the remainder of the month, per NASA.