Kestrel
Flashaholic
Did a bit of stargazing in a nearby park earlier this evening (before the moon rose), nothing special - 8 satellites in one hour but no meteors.
Enjoyed looking at what _I thought_ was Mars, since it was most certainly the brightest feature in the sky.
With my curiosity up, I brought out my 45x 60mm objective Redfield spotting scope & tripod ...
Wait, I didn't know that Mars had three moons?!? A few minutes of research online, and I find out that I'm looking at Jupiter - apparently it's the brightest object in the night sky this March (aside from the Moon of course.)
And it turns out that I was looking at Ganymede, Europa, and Io! (Callisto was behind Jupiter)
Check out this Sky&Telescope link, it gives you the current configuration of Jupiter's four main moons, for your local area & time.
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/wp-content/observing-tools/jupiter_moons/jupiter.html#
Really cool - I was able to match each of the three visible moons with the generated diagram. :thumbsup:
And yes, had 4 flashlights with me (but turned off of course), lol.
Enjoyed looking at what _I thought_ was Mars, since it was most certainly the brightest feature in the sky.
With my curiosity up, I brought out my 45x 60mm objective Redfield spotting scope & tripod ...
Wait, I didn't know that Mars had three moons?!? A few minutes of research online, and I find out that I'm looking at Jupiter - apparently it's the brightest object in the night sky this March (aside from the Moon of course.)
And it turns out that I was looking at Ganymede, Europa, and Io! (Callisto was behind Jupiter)
Check out this Sky&Telescope link, it gives you the current configuration of Jupiter's four main moons, for your local area & time.
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/wp-content/observing-tools/jupiter_moons/jupiter.html#
Really cool - I was able to match each of the three visible moons with the generated diagram. :thumbsup:
And yes, had 4 flashlights with me (but turned off of course), lol.
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