Jupiter is coming its closest to Earth in decades

This Monday will be the closest Jupiter has come to Earth in 59 years, and it will be visible because of opposition.

You could draw a line from the sun to Earth to Jupiter if you were in opposition. Every 13 months, Jupiter's opposition occurs. Jupiter will rise in the east when the sun is set in the west. During opposition, planets are seen at their best.

Jupiter is approaching Earth in a different way than it has in the past. Earth and Jupiter don't pass each other at the same distance when they do. Jupiter will be close to Earth on Monday. It is 600 million miles away.

The views may be a bit better than usual.

"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," says Alphonse. It's a good thing to look at no matter where you are.

He says that Jupiter is easy to see in the night sky if it isn't near the sun and that it might be hard for a casual observer to notice a difference in size.

He was able to see the largest moons of Jupiter with just a pair of 7x50 binoculars.

The four moons of Jupiter are referred to as the Galilean satellites. Galileo discovered them more than 400 years ago.

You need a way to hold binoculars to get a good view if you don't have a telescope. The man said he used a ledge.

He said he could see the moons off to the side of Jupiter. That can be done. If Jupiter was at its furthest, that would be difficult.

Jupiter's 53 named moons include the Galilean satellites.

New images of Jupiter and its moons were released by NASA. Since it began circling Jupiter, NASA's Juno has provided excellent images.

In 2129, Jupiter will come this close again.