It appears that Jupiter is passing by the moon rather quickly. Why does it appear that way?

Question

It appears that Jupiter is passing by the moon rather quickly. Why does it appear that way?

Answer 1

Actually, the opposite is true. the Moon moves relatively quickly from night to night, since it has to swing entirely around the Earth in just one month. Jupiter takes nearly 12 years to move around the Sun. Last year at this time, Jupiter appeared in the constellation Scorpius, which is immediately adjacent to Sagittarius, where it is now.

Answer 2

The Moon is shifting it's position much more than Jupiter, from our viewpoints on Earth.  Since the Moon makes one complete revolution around the Earth about every 28 days, it makes a noticeable position change from day to day, for any given time.

Answer 3

Both the Moon and Jupiter appear to move in the sky due to the Earth's own rotation. However, since this effect is the same for both objects, it doesn't change their relative position. The Moon's orbit does, however, change its position relative to Jupiter, much more so than Jupiter's orbit does (because Jupiter is moving at a smaller angular speed as seen from the Earth).