2017 Jupiter Opposition

  • Released Thursday, April 6, 2017
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Visualization depicting Jupiter opposition occurring on Apri 7 2017

On April 7, 2017, Jupiter and the sun will be positioned on opposite sides of the Earth in what is known as a "Jupiter opposition." Jupiter’s closest approach to Earth for the year always falls on or near this Jupiter's opposition date. In 2017, Jupiter comes closest to Earth one day after its opposition date, on April 8, coming to within 414 million miles (666 million kilometers) of Earth. If Jupiter and Earth had perfectly circular orbits, closest approach would occur at the same time as opposition. However, since Jupiter and Earth both have elliptical orbits, the closest approach is not aligned with opposition, and varies from year to year.

Visualization depicting Jupiter opposition occurring on Apri 7 2017 - no onscreen dates

Date display for period of time leading up to 2017 Jupiter opposition

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Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

This page was originally published on Thursday, April 6, 2017.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, November 15, 2023 at 12:10 AM EST.