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    Adrian Dening's Stars Over Somerset

    Wednesday, 24 September 2025 20:21

    Monday 29th September to Sunday 5th October 2025

     

    If you venture outside at 1am on Monday 29th September and look towards the east north east, Jupiter will have just risen above the horizon.  To the right of the gas giant, you should also be able to make out the constellation of Orion more towards the east and again, close to the horizon.

    Why 1am specifically?  Well if you aim your telescope towards Jupiter at that time, it should be possible to witness the shadow of the planet's moon Io cast onto its surface, while at the same time, another of Jupiter's moons, Ganymede, is physically passing in front of the planet.  At 1am, Ganymede and the shadow of Io will appear to be either side of Jupiter's Great Red Spot.

    The Great Red Spot is a giant storm in Jupiter's upper atmosphere that has been blowing for hundreds of years.  It measures about 10,000 miles across, so is about the size of the whole Earth and has wind speeds of over 250 miles per hour!  It keeps going because Jupiter has no planetary surface that would cause friction to slow it down.  Often, when you look at Jupiter through a telescope, you don't see the Great Red Spot at all.  This is because it only takes ten hours for the storm to rotate completely around the planet, so it's often round the other side!

    Look towards the south around 1am on 2nd October and Saturn will be an easy target to spot.  To the left of Saturn will be the large constellation of Cetus and with your telescope, you could try to find the dwarf planet Ceres that lives in the Asteroid Belt - it will be just to the right of Cetus with a magnitude of around +7.6

    www.starsoversomerset.com

    Screenshots courtesy of Stellarium

    Jupiter / Earth size comparison image courtesy of NASA

    Copyright Adrian Dening and Radio Ninesprings 2025

     

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