The night of closest approach is 20-21 September. This is also called “the night of opposition” because Jupiter will be opposite the sun, rising at sunset and soaring overhead at midnight. Among all denizens of the midnight sky, only the Moon itself will be brighter.

Earth-Jupiter encounters happen every 13 months when the Earth laps Jupiter in their race around the sun. But because Earth and Jupiter do not orbit the sun in perfect circles, they are not always the same distance apart when Earth passes by. On Sept. 20th, Jupiter will be as much as 75 million km closer than previous encounters and will not be this close again until 2022.

The view through a telescope is excellent. Because Jupiter is so close, the planet’s disk can be seen in rare detail – and there is a lot to see. For instance, the Great Red Spot, a cyclone twice as wide as Earth, is bumping up against another storm called “Red Spot Jr”. The apparition of two planet-sized tempests grinding against one another must be seen to be believed.

Also, Jupiter’s trademark South Equatorial Belt (SEB) recently vanished, possibly submerging itself beneath high clouds. Researchers say it could reappear at any moment. The dramatic resurgence would be accompanied by a globe-straddling profusion of spots and cloudy swirls, clearly visible in backyard telescopes.

And what was that flash? Amateur astronomers have recently reported a surprising number of fireballs in Jupiter’s atmosphere. Apparently, many small asteroids or comet fragments are hitting the giant planet and exploding among the clouds. Researchers who have studied these events say visible flashes could be occurring as often as a few times a month.

Finally, we mustn’t forget the moons of Jupiter because they are also having a close encounter with Earth. These are planet-sized worlds with active volcanoes (Io), possible underground oceans (Europa), vast fields of craters (Callisto), and mysterious global grooves (Ganymede). When Galileo discovered the moons 400 years ago, they were no more than pinpricks of light in his primitive spy glass. Big, modern amateur telescopes reveal actual planetary disks with colorful markings.

It makes you wonder, what would Galileo think?

Answer: “I’m getting up at midnight!”

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Three or four times a year, Mercury appears to move backwards in the sky for approximately three weeks. This is an optical illusion since no planet actually moves backwards or even slows down in their orbits around the Sun. However, it appears to move backwards from our perspective on planet Earth, since the planet may be orbiting at a different speed than the Earth’s orbit around the Sun.

Mercury retrograde periods introduce a certain level of confusion for us earthlings. As the planet of communication, Mercury rules speech, our listening abilities, negotiations, buying, selling, travel formal contracts and documents amongst other things – all of which are affected when Mercury seems to slow down. Mercury rules how we perceive and interpret information and how we in turn act and react to that information as we interact with others.

The Leo Sun also opposes Neptune on August 20, which can have a lackluster, low energy, and marginally disappointing influence leading to muddled thinking and lack of motivation as we start this retrograde period. However, Neptune can be healing and very spiritual, and this can be an excellent time to chill out. August 20 can also have the thrill and flavor of romance about it and definitely a time to make your feelings known since we have a delightfully passionate and enthusiastic meeting of Venus and Mars in an exactly aligned conjunction in Libra.

Mercury retrograde periods affect each one of us differently depending on the placement of this planet in our individual birth charts. The effect on Gemini and Virgo signs, ruled by Mercury, will be stronger, but for other signs it is a time of trivial irritations. Being forced to slow down and develop patience can, however, be a blessing in disguise. It gives us all time to stop, go inward and reflect. Mercury retrograde periods can be times of heightened awareness and creativity, and an excellent time for out of the box thinking, which can sometimes lead to startling revelations.

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This is the do-battle angel, the one who not only fights the devil with a flaming sword, but grabs you by the scruff of your neck and yanks you out of trouble and danger.  He/She will give you a terrible time when you do the wrong thing.  The Aries Angel minces no words in telling you that you are messing up, and where you will go if you don’t knock it off.  The Aries Angel may not be tactful.  But he/she has a highly-developed sense of right and wrong, which is helpful in this often morally murky world.

The Taurus Angel (Earth, Fixed)

The Taurus Angel is stubborn.  If you want to cut a corner here or let your guard down there, Taurus Angel won’t let you.  He/She keeps after you and after you until you see the error of your ways, and get back on the straight-and-narrow.  Your Taurus Angel also has common sense and is generous about sharing it with you.  The Taurus Angel is rarely splashy or dramatic, but will stick with you through thick and thin, giving you the quiet strength in tough times and good advice each day.

The Gemini Angel (Air, Mutable)

The Gemini Angel has a light touch and a sense of humour that helps you put matters into perspective and gives you a sense of balance and proportion.  The Gemini angel is swift, witty and verbal.  When the Devil tries to lure you with a million reasons for doing what’s wrong, the Gemini Angel is right there with a million and one reasons for doing what’s right.  The Gemini Angel can be a nag, but in the nicest and funniest way possible: talking to you non-stop until you give up those devilish notions.

The Cancer Angel (Water, Cardinal)

This is the guardian angel to ask for if you need some “chicken soup for the soul,” some good old-fashioned mothering. (All male/female Cancer Angels are mothers at heart.) Your Cancer Angel comforts you, gives you good advice and a shoulder to cry on, and tells you to have faith that everything will work out all right.  Your Cancer Angel will do everything except giving you milk and cookies and tuck you in at night.  But, if they could, they would.

The Leo Angel (Fire, Fixed)

You know those pictures of what angels are supposed to look like:  Noble features, flowing mane, celestial sunlight shining all around them?  That’s a Leo Angel.  Your Leo Angel is a leader and a take-charge type.  The Leo Angel will advise you nicely at first.  Then, if you don’t do it, the Leo Angel will give you a good swift kick to set you back on the right road again. The Leo Angel is very responsible, very proud and darned if he/she is going to lose one assigned soul.

The Virgo Angel (Earth, Mutable)

The Virgo Angel, male or female, looks like the Virgo symbol:  Wholesome and fresh-faced.  The Virgo Angel is very efficient and reminds you to do all those daily little things so that you won’t fall into sloppy habits that render you vulnerable to devilish sneak attacks.  However, the Virgo Angel is a list-maker and note-taker.  You can’t get away with a thing or talk your way out of your flaws until you fix them.  Virgo Angel won’t let you sleep until you do.

The Libra Angel (Air, Cardinal)

That’s one good-looking angel you’ve got there.  Of course they’re all good-looking.  But the Libra Angel has that special glow that comes from having a heart that sincerely loves everyone.  The Libra Angel is eminently fair-minded and has a gentle but firm way of telling you what’s right from what’s wrong.  Angel is a gentle soul that treats you and others in a diplomatic way that gets the desired results without making a bad situation worse.  The Libra Angel is the exemplar of the word “grace” in all its senses.

The Scorpio Angel (Water, Fixed)

The Avenging Angel is more like it for this sign.  Step out of line and this angel gets you right back onto it with a flaming sword.  The Scorpio Angel gives you no rest until you repent the evil of your ways.  The Scorpio Angel is no fun.  But then again, neither is that certain place with no air conditioning and no exists.  The Scorpio Angel’s mission is to save you from that place, from yourself, and from your weaknesses and temptations.  And Scorpio takes that mission very, very seriously.

The Sagittarius Angel (Fire, Mutable)

If your idea of a guardian angel is a spirit that walks beside you everywhere and keeps you out of harm’s way, then you’re thinking of a Sagittarius Angel.  Sagittarius is the sign of both travel and companionship.  The Sagittarius Angel is a great pal who gives you lots of space to follow your own lights, intervening only when you’re in trouble or danger, or when your own judgment is so egregiously bad that you need to be straightened out, fast.

The Capricorn Angel (Earth, Cardinal)

You’ve got the Taskmaster Angel, the Drill Sergeant of the Hereafter.  No excuses, no rationalizations, no justifications, no gray areas, no either/ors, no if-ands-or-buts.  No stalling, no asterisks, no exemptions, no just-one-time, no just-one-more-time either.  Just do it.  Grow Up.  Get Over it.  Get used to it.  Deal with it.  The Capricorn Angel is tough on your conscience and cuts you no slack, and doesn’t have a sense of humour about some things.  All of which is a big pain now, but which saves you from bigger pain later.

The Aquarius Angel (Air, Fixed)

Remember Clarence from It’s A Wonderful Life?  Clarence is probably an Aquarius Angel, doing things in an unusual way, but so well meaning that somehow everything works out in the end.  If any angel can understand human flaws, failings and foibles, its the Aquarius Angel.  This angel will pull rank on you only if you really push the envelope.  Otherwise, Aquarius Angel prefers the explanatory Socratic method of showing you the error of your ways kindly.

The Pisces Angel (Water, Mutable)

The Pisces Angel is such a sweet and sympathetic soul that he/she probably weeps when you do wrong.  In the long run, that may be harder on your conscience than all the lectures and hellfire-and-damnation sermons in the world, and you’ll be good for all the right reasons.  The Pisces Angel is the one who urges you to be patient, to be generous, to give people the benefit of the doubt, to do unto others as you would have others do unto you.  That’s exactly how the Pisces Angel behaves, leading by example.  Follow that example.  You can’t miss.

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