"The King of the Planets at its Biggest and Brightest for 2004 Meets the King of the Constellations"

Scheduled air date: 2004 Feb 23-29

The giant planet Jupiter is at opposition—directly opposite the Sun as seen from Earth—on March 3rd.  On that night, Jupiter appears in the constellation Leo, the Lion, beneath a three-days-before-Full Waxing Gibbous Moon.
(Shown about two hours after sunset for mid-Northern latitudes.)

This view of our Solar System shows that Jupiter is directly opposite the Sun from Earth on March 3rd.
(Shown from above the Sun's north pole.)

If you wish to view illustrations for other episodes, please see our Star Gazer Illustrated directory.

Illustrations on this page were created using TheSky Astronomy Software, an advanced desktop planetarium program designed for Windows. Copyright © 1999-2006 by Software Bisque, Inc.