Jupiter Triangle: How To See It In the Night Sky This Month

There are always reasons to check out the night sky whether it's the blue moon or the meteor shower, this time it would be Jupiter triangle. It would be seen in the month of April 2018 when the gas giant Jupiter will be forming a rare and fleeting triangle with 2 bright stars to form a beautiful imagery in the night sky and it will be visible to the human eye. The term 'Jupiter's triangle' was coined by Joe Rao, astronomy lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium and columnist at Space.com as Jupiter will be seen as the brightest point. The triangle is going to be isosceles in shape and made up of stars Arcturus and Spica.

Arcturus is the 4th brightest star in the night sky and is close at 36.7 light years away from the sun. Spica is actually a binary system (system that has two stars) and is 260 light years away from the Earth. In night sky, these stars appears as a single bright point of light. The triangle can be seen by naked eye from around 11 pm local time in east-southeast direction. No specific tools are needed to see the triangle.

The triangle would be moving continuously throughout the month. The triangle and star will be 20 degrees apart by July 11 and will have a narrow appearance. The triangle will not appear in the night sky until 2030.

By: Neha Maheshwari

Content: https://www.sciencealert.com/jupiter-forms-a-triangle-in-the-night-sky-this-month-here-s-how-to-see-it