SkyEye

The chart shows the path of Jupiter across the background stars over the course of the year. Stars to magnitude +7.5 are shown. The white circles represent the planet on the first day of the month and are scaled according to apparent magnitude. The faint paths before the first circle and after the last circle represent the planet's positions in December of last year and January of next. In general, the planet moves from right to left except when it's in retrograde and proceding in the opposite direction.

The lower chart shows how the appearance of Jupiter changes over the year. Below each image is listed the date, the apparent magnitude, the apparent diameter of the disk (in arc-seconds) and the geocentric distance (in au). Note that Jupiter appears distinctly larger and brighter near the time of opposition.

Jupiter is retrograding through Gemini as 2026 gets underway, coming to opposition in mid-January. It passes a little over a degree north of the planetary nebula C39 (NGC 2392) twice, in January and May, and less than a degree north of the fourth-magnitude star Wasat (δ Geminorum) in January and April. The gas giant meets the Beehive open cluster and the fourth-magnitude star Asellus Australis (δ Cancri) in August. The Moon gets close enough to occult Jupiter four times between September and November, and the rocky planets Mercury, Venus and Mars all overtake the largest planet in the solar system during the year. Jupiter is an evening sky object until conjunction in July. It reappears in the morning and rises ever earlier until it finally returns to the evening sky very late in the year. Jupiter moves into Cancer in June and Leo in September where it remains for the rest of 2026.

All times and dates are in UT with the time given to the nearest hour unless otherwise indicated. Positions are geocentric apparent places and referred to the true equator and equinox of date.