Home >> Science & Nature >> Astronomy

Constellations Near Jupiter

Jupiter was aptly named for the king of the Roman pantheon, as Jupiter is the undisputed king of the planets of this solar system. The source of the word "planet" meant "wanderer," since the planets (unlike the stars) do not always appear in the same place in the sky. All of the planets, including Earth, orbit the sun in the same direction, and within a degree or two of the same plane, and so from the perspective of Earth, the sun and all the planets move along a fairly narrow band of the sky.

The Earth's Orbit
- As the Earth moves around the sun in its orbit, the sun naturally changes its apparent position against the background of the stars. The line it follows is called the ecliptic. Thousands of years ago, astrologers divided the heavens into constellations, 12 of which lay along the ecliptic and became the traditional zodiac. Today, with the gradual precession of the Earth's axis of rotation and other effect, the ecliptic now actually passes through 13 constellations: Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpius and Ophiuchus.
Jupiter's Orbit
- The ecliptic represents the plane of the Earth's orbit around the sun. Jupiter's orbit is almost but not quite aligned with that of Earth, tilted at an angle of about 1.3 degrees. This means that Jupiter may appear in the sky up to 1.3 degrees above or below the ecliptic. Since the constellations along the ecliptic tend to be around 30 degrees wide, Jupiter will almost always be found within one of the 13 constellations of the ecliptic.
Neighboring Constellations
- Although Jupiter will almost always lie within one of the same 13 constellations, there are other constellations within eight degrees of the ecliptic, close enough that other planets, such as Venus whose orbital planes are tilted more, will occasionally pass through them. There are 24 constellations that lie within 8 degrees of the ecliptic, and that Jupiter will occasional pass close to, if not through. These are the 11 constellations that lie on the ecliptic, plus Auriga, Canis Minor, Cetus, Corvus, Crater, Hydra, Orion, Pegasus, Scutum, Serpens and Sextans.
Beyond
- Jupiter only appears in or near the constellations in a narrow band of the sky, but that is only the case when observed from Earth or one of the other planets that lie close to the ecliptic. Observed from, say, a comet whose orbit took it well above or below the plane of the planets' orbits, Jupiter could appear in any constellation of the sky, from Ursa Minor to the Southern Cross. In fact, the space probe Ulysses flew by Jupiter's north pole in 1992, putting it into an orbit inclined 80 degrees to the ecliptic. Viewed from Ulysses, Jupiter can appear in almost any constellation in the sky.

Astronomy