The Return of Jupiter!

Autumn and winter this year should offer an exciting time for skywatchers since several neighboring planets are now preparing to strut their celestial stuff.

This week, anyone stepping outdoors after dark will see the bright planet Saturn shining high in the south-southeast sky. It'll be visible during evening hours through late November when it vanishes behind the western horizon until next summer, and will provide those with a small backyard telescope a close-up view of its remarkably beautiful ring system.

By early December, the red planet Mars will become a stunning sight in our nighttime sky as it reaches its nearest point to the Earth. Around the end of that month, the brilliant planet Venus will begin making its appearance in the west at dusk, as it emerges from the glow of our sun to become the most brilliant object in our evening sky (other than the moon, of course).

And then there's the giant planet Jupiter. This great world is in our evening sky right now and will reach its official "opposition" point on the night of Sept. 26. Not only is this when the planet appears in our sky opposite the sun (rising in the east at sunset and remaining visible all night long), it's also when it lies closest to us and, therefore, appears larger and brighter than at any other time in its orbit.

This distant world, which is always beautiful to view through a small telescope, will be especially impressive during September and October and will remain visible well into early next year.

Jupiter has always been one of my favorites because it's a planet that appears to change fairly quickly. Here's a world that's 11 times the diameter of the Earth, yet it rotates on its axis once only every 10 hours or so. This means that its Earth-facing side changes completely in just five hours and, with patience, early evening skywatchers with a small telescope can easily watch its pastel cloud bands and, sometimes, its Great Red Spot spin in and out of view in just one long night of stargazing.

Perhaps the most enjoyable part of watching this planet is keeping up with the antics of its four largest moons. These are known as the Galilean satellites — Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto — because it was the Italian astronomer Galileo who discovered them and their motions some four centuries ago. These appear to dance around the planet and change their positions from night to night — sometimes even from hour to hour!

Much of the fun of watching these moons is knowing all their names. You can identify them by finding an app for your smartphone or tablet, or by visiting shallowsky.com/galilean. To learn more about these incredible moons and their amazing parent world, be sure to check out nineplanets.org/Jupiter.

Now that Jupiter has returned to our early-evening sky, try aiming a telescope in its direction, or contact your local astronomy club or science museum to learn when they'll be hosting a free "star party" so you can get a close-up look at this exciting giant planet.

Yessiree, it's going to be another terrific season of planet-gazing!

Jupiter is in our evening sky right now and will reach its official 'opposition' point on the night of Sept. 26.

Visit Dennis Mammana at dennismammana.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.