Where is Jupiter tonight?

Jupiter in 3D

Jupiter lit by the Sun at this moment and seen from Earth’s direction, so its phase matches what a telescope shows. Drag to turn it. The time slider moves the light and the rotation.

Where to find Jupiter among the stars

Two finder charts for today: a wide field to find the right part of the sky and a closer field with fainter stars. North is up and east on the left, as the sky looks to the naked eye. The dotted line marks its path over the coming weeks, one dot per week.

Stars: HYG Database. Constellation figures: Stellarium. Deep-sky objects: OpenNGC (Messier objects marked M).

Jupiter’s moons right now

Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto beside the planet as seen from Earth in binoculars or a small telescope: east on the left, as with the naked eye (a telescope may flip the view). Drag the slider through the coming day.

Visibility over the next 12 months

Angle between Jupiter and the Sun on the 15th of each month. The further from the Sun, the darker the sky around it. Colour shows whether it is in the evening or the morning sky.

Ephemeris for the next 15 days

Position at 0:00 UTC each day as seen from the centre of the Earth (apparent coordinates of date), calculated with Astronomy Engine.

Distance from Earth

Distance from Earth over the past and the coming year. The closest approach in this period: January 9, 2026, 633.1 million km.

Brightness

Visual magnitude over the same two years. Higher on the chart is brighter.

Coming up

• Nov 2, 2026Moon near Jupiter
• Nov 15, 2026Conjunction of Mars and Jupiter
• Nov 30, 2026Moon near Jupiter
• Dec 27, 2026Moon near Jupiter
• Jan 23, 2027Moon near Jupiter
• Feb 10, 2027Jupiter at opposition
• Feb 19, 2027Moon near Jupiter
• Mar 19, 2027Moon near Jupiter

Facts

Moon count: NASA, page updated September 21, 2026

Source: NASA planetary fact sheet (Oct 12, 2026). Calculated with Astronomy Engine, an open-source library verified against the US Naval Observatory and NASA JPL. Data sources

Gravity compared: Jupiter and Earth

Drop, jump and throw side by side: Jupiter on one side, Earth or any other world on the other. Pick a world to compare, or open the full tool. Open the gravity tool

Latest NASA images of Jupiter

The newest images about it in NASA’s Photojournal, updated daily. Open one for NASA’s full caption and the original file.

NASA news about Jupiter

• Jul 22, 2026NASA’s Juno Takes Temperature of Jupiter’s Fiery Moon Io
• Feb 25, 2026Listen to This Month’s ‘Planetary Parade’ With NASA’s Chandra
• Jan 27, 2026NASA’s Juno Measures Thickness of Europa’s Ice Shell
• Sep 30, 2025Jupiter’s Volcanic Moon Io
• Aug 1, 2025NASA’s Europa Clipper Radar Instrument Proves Itself at Mars
• Jul 21, 2025NASA Shares How to Save Camera 370-Million-Miles Away Near Jupiter

Headlines from NASA’s news feeds (in English), updated daily. Last checked October 13, 2026.

Discoveries and exploration

Key moments in the study of Jupiter, each linked to its source.

1. 1610Galileo Galilei discovers Jupiter's four largest moons, the first moons found beyond Earth. Source
2. December 4, 1973Pioneer 10, NASA's first spacecraft to visit the outer planets, makes its closest approach to Jupiter. Source
3. 1974Pioneer 11 flies even closer to Jupiter on its way to Saturn. Source
4. March 1979Voyager 1 flies by and discovers a thin ring, two new moons and active volcanoes on Io. Source
5. July 9, 1979Voyager 2 makes its closest approach to Jupiter. Source
6. July 16, 1994Fragments of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 begin striking Jupiter; the impacts end on July 22. Source
7. December 7, 1995Galileo enters orbit around Jupiter, and its probe enters the planet's atmosphere. Source
8. December 30, 2000Cassini passes about 9.7 million km from Jupiter's cloud tops on its way to Saturn. Source
9. September 21, 2003Galileo is deliberately plunged into Jupiter to protect Europa, where it found signs of a possible ocean. Source
10. July 4, 2016NASA's Juno spacecraft enters orbit around Jupiter. Source
11. April 14, 2023ESA's JUICE launches to study Jupiter and its moons Ganymede, Callisto and Europa; arrival is planned for 2031. Source
12. October 14, 2024NASA's Europa Clipper launches to study whether Europa has places below its surface that could support life. Source

Checked against the linked NASA, ESA and NOAA pages on October 10, 2026.

How to use this page

Choose your place and a night at the top: tonight by default, or one of the dates under it. The tiles show when Jupiter rises, is highest and sets, and the numbers that matter for that night. Below them you find where it is right now, the sky in 3D with Jupiter marked, finder charts, the year ahead and the facts.

What the numbers mean

Rises and sets

When the top edge of the disc meets a flat horizon, with the bending of light by the air included, as in almanacs. A time on another day carries its date.

Highest

When it crosses the meridian, due south or due north, and its height above the horizon then.

Direction and height

The compass point and azimuth to face, counted from north through east, and the angle above the horizon. A fist at arm’s length covers about 10°.

Distance and apparent size

How far away it is from Earth’s centre at that moment and how wide it looks in the sky, in arcminutes (′) or arcseconds (″).

Magnitude

Brightness: the smaller the number, the brighter. About 6 is the faintest the eye sees under a dark sky.

How accurate it is

Positions and times come from Astronomy Engine. In our tests positions agree with NASA JPL’s Horizons to within one arcminute, and rise and set times of the Sun and the Moon to within two minutes. Times assume a flat horizon at your place, so hills and buildings change when you actually see it rise or set. Methodology

Frequently asked questions