For those who love star and planet gazing, tonight, our solar system's largest planet, Jupiter, will be within 590 million kilometres of earth. While that distance may seem quite far, it will be the closest Jupiter has gotten to earth since 1963.

Jupiter will be brighter than all the stars tonight (though Venus will still burn brighter as it is behind the sun) and will be rising near sunset, with it being visible most of the night. For those eager to see the planet, you will need to look toward the east during sunset. According to earthsky.org, those that are astronomy fans, you can pick out the Great Square of the constellation Pegasus, a large square pattern in the sky with four medium-bright stars marking the corners.

"If your sky is dark, look for a faint, circular grouping of stars known as the Circlet in the constellation Pisces."

And if you happen to have binoculars and you look closely, you’ll see the Galilean satellites (the four largest moons of Jupiter) appearing as pinpoints of light.

The gas giant is almost eleven times larger than earth and, is being 142,984 km wide. It takes almost 12 years to complete one trip around the sun, although days on Jupiter are relatively short, averaging only 10 hours. 

Send your news tips, story ideas, pictures, and videos to news@discoverairdrie.com