At New York's Hayden Planetarium where I've spent the last 37 years serving in the role as an Associate and Guest Lecturer, lately we've been getting an increasing number of phone calls making basically the same inquiry. A typical call goes something like this: "I was out shortly after midnight last night and could not help but notice a brilliant silvery star glowing low in the east-northeast. It was far brighter than any star and I was just curious to know what I was looking at."
The object in question is the largest planet in our solar system: Jupiter. It's a welcome sight, rising in the late evening and coming up above the east-northeast horizon this week by 11:45 p.m. local daylight time.
