How to observe planet Jupiter Monday night?

Planet Jupiter is passing by Earth and coming the closest it’s been in 59 years on Monday. This will occur as the sun, Earth, and Jupiter align in a straight-line, reaching opposition.

According to NPR, this alignment occurs once every 13 months. It makes planets seem big and bright. But this time around, Jupiter will be nearer to Earth than it’s been since 1963.

NASA says that the distance between the two planets is 600 million miles at their furthest point, but they will be 367 millions miles apart during opposition.

NASA recommends that you use a pair of quality binoculars to see the planet in the spotlight.

“Jupiter is so bright and brilliant that a really nice thing about it is even in a city, in the middle of a bright city, you can see it,” Alphonse Sterling, a NASA astrophysicist at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, told NPR. “So I would say that it’s a good thing to take advantage of and to look at no matter where you’re at.”

It will be visible for most of the night, rising when the sun dips and appearing when it’s dark again.

Jupiter, fifth from sun, has 53 named Moons, but the space agency stated that the real number could be much higher.

“With good binoculars, the banding (at least the central band) and three or four of the Galilean satellites (moons) should be visible,” said Adam Kobelski, a research astrophysicist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Jupiter’s four largest moons are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, and are known as the Galileans satellite, after Galileo Galilei who first observed them in the 17th century.

“It’s important to remember that Galileo observed these moons with 17th-century optics. One of the key needs will be a stable mount for whatever system you use,” he added.

The next time Jupiter comes so close to Earth's surface will be in over 100 years.