70-year record: Jupiter approaches closest distance from Earth


Jupiter will be closer to Earth than it’s been in the last 70 years in the month of September.

The fifth planet will be 367 million miles or 33 light minutes away on Sept. 26, but close enough for the entire month to be visible in the east. The planet will rise after sunset and be visible just before sunrise most days this month.

This comes as Jupiter’s position allowed scientist Bjorn Jonsson to create two images using raw data from pictures taken by NASA’s Juno spacecraft, with one showing what the planet would look like to the naked eye.

SEE IT: NEW BREATHTAKING PHOTOS SHOW CLOSE-UP IMAGE OF JUPITER

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The left image shows Jupiter as it would be seen to the human eye. The image on the right is sharpened and has increased contrast to show detailed features of the planet. Both images are from the JunoCam instrument on the Juno spacecraft.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Jupiter is typically 460,718,000 miles away from the sun and more than 372,000,000 miles away from Earth.

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