Jupiter's 11.9-year orbit around the Sun will carry it to its furthest point to the Sun – its aphelion – at a distance of 5.46 AU.
In practice, however, Jupiter's orbit is very close to circular; its distance from the Sun only varies by about 10.2% between perihelion and aphelion. This means that the difference in the amount of heat and light it receives from the Sun between aphelion and perihelion is extremely small.
Finding Jupiter
Jupiter's distance from the Sun doesn't affect its appearance. From South El Monte, at the moment of aphelion it will become visible at around 20:17 (PDT), 54° above your southern horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. It will then sink towards the horizon, setting at 01:49.
A chart of the path of Jupiter across the sky in 2076 can be found here, and a chart of its rising and setting times here.
The position of Jupiter at the moment it passes aphelion will be:
| Object | Right Ascension | Declination | Constellation | Magnitude | Angular Size |
| Jupiter | 12h16m00s | 0°14'S | Virgo | -2.1 | 37.7" |
The coordinates above are given in J2000.0.
The sky on 28 Apr 2026
| The sky on 28 April 2026 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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96% 12 days old |
All times shown in PDT.
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Source
The circumstances of this event were computed using the DE430 planetary ephemeris published by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
This event was automatically generated by searching the ephemeris for planetary alignments which are of interest to amateur astronomers, and the text above was generated based on an estimate of your location.
Related news
| 30 May 2076 | – Jupiter ends retrograde motion |
| 27 Feb 2077 | – Jupiter enters retrograde motion |
| 29 Apr 2077 | – Jupiter at opposition |
| 30 Jun 2077 | – Jupiter ends retrograde motion |
Image credit
© NASA/Cassini