A "changing of the guard" is now taking place just after sunset in the early evening sky. As Venus, Mars and Saturn set in the west, dazzling bright Jupiter rises in the east.

Jupiter now rises around 9:30 p.m. and can be see about 20 degrees above the east-southeastern horizon by 11 p.m. The cream-colored gem now sparkles at a dazzling bright --2.8 magnitude and will outshine everything except the moon in the southern sky this summer. The king of the planets will rise earlier and climb higher in the sky each evening until it goes into opposition with Earth on Sept. 21. The planet will then rise at sunset, shine in the sky all night long, and then set with the sun.

Even though Earth and Jupiter will be as close together as they have been since 1963 in September, it's not the distance between the two worlds that makes Jupiter so bright. It's Jupiter's size and brightly reflective clouds that make it dazzle.

That's Fascinating, where Mark Roth spotlights the odd and the interesting in everyday life, is featured exclusively in the Opinion section on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.