Irish stargazers will be able to get a glimpse of Jupiter on Friday night, as the planet will be the brightest object in the sky alongside the moon.
Set to be a “gloriously stunning sight”, the planet will be visible to the naked eye.
Jupiter is set to “blaze” above the moon tonight, appearing around 5pm and staying until 3am.
In what has been described as the “astronomical highlight of the month”, Jupiter and the moon will shine brightly over Ireland on Friday, November 4.
They will technically be closest at around 10pm, but will be visible to the naked eye all night.
The country’s leading astronomer and Editor of Astronomy Ireland Magazine, David Moore said: “This will be a gloriously stunning sight to the naked eye and even non-astronomers are going to look at the Moon and be shocked to see an extremely bright 'star' just above the Moon.”
This, he explained, is only a line-of-sight effect as “Jupiter is 625 million kilometres from Earth but the Moon is only 0.4 million kilometres from us”.
Moore said: “The Moon is over 1500 times closer than Jupiter. Also, Jupiter is 40 times wider than the Moon in reality."
"Things to ponder while you stare in awe at this incredible one-night-only sight,” he said.
Jupiter will be visible in Irish skies until New Year and will appear to be the brightest “star”.
Astronomy Ireland is inviting anyone who spots the event to send a photo or written report to them for publication in their magazine.
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