Jupiter

[james79]

I don't know how many folks on here share an interest in the heavens but having come back in to warm up following an evening out with the telescope as opposed to the gun I took one last look up as I locked up for the night and I would thoroughly recommend anyone that's still up to take a look at the King of the planets even with the naked eye. It's sat just to the left and up a bit to the side of the moon as I look now and the two sat side by side really are a picture. If you have even a small set of binos (or even dare I say a rifle scope ) you should see at least 3 of the Galilean moons, possibly 4 (the 4th just came in to view whilst I was watching through an 8inch scope earlier ). To be honest, tonight at least, just seeing the moon and Jupiter juxtaposed in the night sky with the naked eye puts things in to perspective and leaves a very lasting and memorable image for me

[poguemahone]

just been out and had a look
not much in the way of dazzling lights to interfere with viewing down here on the canal

[Outandabout]

Hi James
I like to sit out in the back garden in the dark looking up at the stars. Its amazing how many meteorites/shooting stars you see. And thats without having a drink
I dont know if you have seen the app you can get for your phone or ipad called skyview. Its brill for people like me who dont know the costallations and stars so good. All you do is point the device at a start/planet etc that can be seen and the app will tell you the name and/or which constallation it is from. I use it quite a bit out in the garden.
This week and tonight is brilliant for this, good bright clear skys.
Kevin

[james79]

Hi James
I like to sit out in the back garden in the dark looking up at the stars. Its amazing how many meteorites/shooting stars you see. And thats without having a drink
I dont know if you have seen the app you can get for your phone or ipad called skyview. Its brill for people like me who dont know the costallations and stars so good. All you do is point the device at a start/planet etc that can be seen and the app will tell you the name and/or which constallation it is from. I use it quite a bit out in the garden.
This week and tonight is brilliant for this, good bright clear skys.
Kevin

I had sky view on my old phone and it's a cracking tool to let you get your bearings. At the moment however my go to app is stellarium (it's free to use on a laptop etc but the app is a couple of quid), with that you can point at stars, constellations etc and you can also use it to locate and identify comets, planets and satellites. The big advantage of stellarium is that it also has a red "filter" setting so you can retain your night vision whilst using it. I thoroughly agree with you about the quality of the "seeing" this week it's just a shame the moon's been so bright at times and drowned out some of the deep sky objects