Annsan wrote: > I saw the planet and what appeared to be a moon _above and to the > right_ of our moon. The planet's moon was about 4 oclock to the > planet. THe planet was at um between 1 and 2 oclock to our moon.
Hi Annsan, That's definitely Jupiter you saw, as David Dixon pointed out. Jupiter would have been about due east and 34 degrees above the horizon at 6:00 PM EST from your location. My grandson and I were looking at Jupiter through my reflecting telescope (8" diameter aperture, 1200 mm focal length, f/6, magnification 144 X) at about 9:30 PM EST Saturday night from our suburban location upstate. Glorious view, by the way. I don't recall seeing anything in the location you describe, but there are a couple of 3rd-magnitude stars belonging to the constellation Gemini at about the 8 o'clock and 2 o'clock positions using your coordinates, and a 4th-magnitude star (also in Gemini) at about the 4 o'clock position. This 4th-magnitude star would have been about as far away from Jupiter as Jupiter is from the Moon. One of Jupiter's authentic moons, Callisto, would have been about two-tenths of a degree away from Jupiter at the time you describe, in the direction toward our Moon. However, Callisto is about 7 magnitudes -- or 610 times -- less bright than Jupiter. With the large magnitude difference, the small separation, and the glare from the full Moon, you wouldn't have seen this satellite of Jupiter with the naked eye. However, you ~can~ see these moons of Jupiter in a pair of well-steadied 10 x 50 binoculars. Perhaps what you saw was either a background star (or perhaps a reflection from your eyeglasses?). Saturn, by the way, currently rises about two hours before Jupiter. My grandson and I looked at Saturn through the telescope as well -- also a glorious site. Trace a line in the sky from our Moon through Jupiter and across the sky toward the western horizon. Saturn is about 30 degrees to the west of Jupiter along this line. (Your clenched fist held at arm's length subtends about ten degrees of sky from thumb to little finger, so Saturn is three "fist widths" from Jupiter.) Saturn is currently about 4 degrees above the star, Aldebaran -- a bright reddish orange star in the constellation Taurus. This pair stands out pretty well in my suburban evening sky. You'll probably need a telescope to see Saturn's rings, but even an inexpensive refractor at low power (60 or 70 X) will give a pretty view. Well, more than you probably wanted to know, but hope this helps. Good seeing! Bill Peifer Rochester, NY - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
