Qatar Calendar House (QCH) announced that the giant planet of the solar system, Jupiter will be visible in the skies of Qatar on Tuesday July 14 of 2020 (23 of Dhu al-Qadah 1441 AH), in an astronomical phenomenon where Jupiter encounters the Sun. Planet Jupiter will rise around the time of the sunset on Tuesday.

Astronomer expert at QCH Dr. Beshir Marzouk said that this phenomena where Jupiter encounters the Sun is a highly significant one, as it provides a good opportunity to see and monitor Jupiter from the surface of the Earth for the longest period of night during the year. In addition to that, Jupiter will be brighter and larger than usual days, as it will be at its nearest point to Earth during that phenomenon.

Jupiter encounters the Sun once a year, as the planets last encounter was on Monday, June 10 of 2019, and the planets shall meet again on Friday August 20 of 2021.

Residents of Qatar and Arabic area countries will have a good chance to observe Jupiter during the astronomical phenomenon all night, where it will rise in Qatar skies on Tuesday at 06:21 pm Doha local time, and will reach its highest (azimuth angle) at 11:37 pm Doha local time, where it will be 42 degrees towards the southern horizon, until sunrise of the following day, added Dr. Marzouk.

During the "Jupiter encounters the Sun" phenomenon, the center of Jupiter, the Sun and the Earth will be at a straight line, with Earth in the middle, and Jupiter on the opposite side of the Sun.

Jupiter is the fastest spinning planet in our Solar System rotating on average once in just under 10 hours, which is very fast especially considering how large Jupiter is. This means that Jupiter has the shortest days of all the planets in the Solar System.

Source: Qatar News Agency

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Khadiza Begum

Content Writer

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