It was in the early 1600s that Galileo gazed at the heavens with his telescope and first saw the mountain and scars on the moon, the moons of jupiter, and many other wonders. Tonight, here on the West Coast, it’s a nearly cloudless night. I decided to step outside into the brisk night air with my binoculars and do a little skywatching.
This is a particularly gorgeous night for looking up. Two of my favorite things are happening tonight: a full moon and the bright presence of Jupiter. In fact, it’s quite nice that these are the very objects that Galileo once stared at and learned about the true place of Earth in the heavens. My binoculars, which once belonged to my Grandpa, aren’t super-powerful, but they are more than adequate for a full moon.
The moon is bright and pregnant, and the curves of its surface are very evident with the full glow of the sun reflecting off it tonight. It’s an awesome sight, and if you’re reading this get outside and have a look!
Jupiter is a little harder for me. I’d prefer to have a telescope for this one, but all I’ve got is the binoculars. It’s so damn bright! I’d love to see its moons chasing each other around, but I’ll have to settle for just knowing I’m looking at it tonight. SIGH.
I’d like to thank “Stardate”:http://stardate.org for keeping me up-to-date on the latest astronomical happenings. And since I can’t see Jupiter’s details clearly, here’s a photo from the Kitt Peak National Observatory that the program “Kstars”:http://edu.kde.org/kstars/ gave me when I clicked on Jupiter.
“Image of Jupiter and some of its moons, from KPNO”:img:wp-content/uploads/jupmoon4.gif
