From around the world tonight, the waxing gibbous moon shines closer to Jupiter this Monday evening than it did at this time yesterday. See our January 20 program to know why the moon and Jupiter are pairing up more closely tonight.

The moon and Jupiter snuggle up especially close together in the Americas this evening. In fact, if you’re in the right place in South America, you can watch the moon occult – cover over – Jupiter for up to an hour or so this evening. Click here for more information on this lunar occultation of Jupiter.

Tomorrow morning, at 5:00 a.m. Central Time in North America, the moon will be at apogee – its farthest point from Earth for the month. At apogee the moon will be 405,311 kilometers (251,849 miles) away. Even so, the moon – our closest celestial neighbor – very much remains in the Earth’s backyard while Jupiter lodges in the farther reaches of the solar system.