Gas giant Jupiter will appear to reverse direction in the night sky from March 10 onwards, bringing an end to its temporary retrograde motion that began in November 2025, which saw it travel westward through the stars of the constellation Gemini.
Under normal circumstances, our outer planets the solar system — March, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune — traveling east through the night sky relative to the fixed star field outside. However, each of the planets appears to periodically change direction and double back on itself.
This trick of perspective is known as retrograde motion, and occurs when Earth – traveling faster in its orbit compared to the outer planets – catches up and overtakes a planet during the period of opposition, when a planet is in opposition. the sun in the sky of the earth.
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Seam Earth transiting an outer planet, in this case Jupiter, appears to first stand still and then move backwards (westwards) relative to the background stars, before finally returning to its normal prograde motion as our planet moves further from opposition.
Jupiter will then continue its usual eastward motion through the evening sky until the end of June, when it will temporarily lose sight before the solar conjunction on July 29. the gas giant will re-emerge as a morning planet in the pre-dawn sky in mid-August and will not go into retrograde motion again until December 12th later this year, according to in-the-sky.
Want to take a closer look at the king of the planets? So be sure to check out our picks best telescopes available in 2026 along with ours equipment guide for viewing and photographing the planets.
Editor’s note: If you would like to share your planet photography with Space.com readers, please send your photos, comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.
