Jupiter over St Neots

Jupiter in the eastern sky

Jupiter has been low in the eastern sky over St Neots in the early evening. It rises higher and heads south as the night draws on.

It will look much the same anywhere in mid-northern latitudes, a very bright star-like point of light to the naked eye. But steady, unlike the stars that shimmer and twinkle.

It's hard to imagine that this little point of light is actually a planet big enough to hold a thousand Earths! It is roughly ten times the Earth's diameter.

If you could visit Jupiter and look at the Earth we would appear less than one hundredth as bright and would be very hard to spot in the glare of the nearby Sun.

(If you liked this you might also like Journeys of heart and mind and Quote me on this.)