Jupiter seen with naked eye on ‘06-06-06’

Never mind the apocalypse. Check out the night skies instead.

On the night of June 6 (or "6/6/6" to astrology buffs) Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, will be visible to the naked eye, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said yesterday.

In its Astronomical Diary, Pagasa announced that Jupiter, the fifth planet from our sun, would be visible and shining at a magnitude of -2.4 from the east-southeastern horizon around 7 p.m.

But Jupiter’s diameter will also shrink by 10 percent this month as viewed through a telescope. A telescope will show its equatorial band and the four Galilean satellites.

Finding the planet shouldn’t be too difficult for heaven gazers.

"To see Jupiter, you just have to look at the spot where the sun rises and then turn your head to the right," noted Pagasa Planetarium Unit chief Elmor Escosia.

Escosia added that, at the same time, a larger telescope would be needed to locate the distant world Pluto which will also gleam at magnitude +13.9.

Pluto will lie among the stars of the constellation of Serpentes — or the Serpent — on Tuesday. It is the farthest planet from the sun and by far the smallest.

But Escosia said these astronomical events have no connection to predictions that another terrorist attack would occur in the United

States when the calendar registers "6/6/6" on June 6, 2006.

"That ‘666’ thing is (based on) astrological (prediction)," he noted. "What we are doing is astronomical. There is no relationship."

The Diary showed that, besides the planet sightings, not much else is in store for sky gazers as the annual June Bootid meteor shower might be minimal this year.

The source of the June Bootid is comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke which orbits the sun once every 6.37 years. And this year, the comet has not returned to produce significant meteor showers.

"Normally, the shower is active from June 26 to July 2. An active outburst in 2004 surprised everyone by producing meteors on June 23, before any previous historical bootid activity… A little or no activity will be expected this year," the Diary stated.

The radiant of the shower will originate from the constellation of Bootes, or the Herdsman.

Pagasa said it is also expecting an "occultation" (the passage of an object of large angular size in front of a smaller object, such as the moon, or in front of a distant star or an object) of asteroid Vesta to occur on June 28 around 3 a.m.

"Using a modest size telescope, the 8th magnitude, 515-kilometer diameter space rock will be seen slowly hiding behind the moon," the agency added.