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By Jupiter!

Last night, March 3rd, was a fairly uneventful night for sky watching.  The moon is racing to be full, and the smallest full moon of the year.  Here at Bedlam, I don't get too excited for ordinary nights like this.   But I did glance at my EarthSky email and they mentioned something rather interesting:  directly above the moon on this night will be bright Jupiter. And, if the sky is clear and you have either binoculars, a telescope or a decent camera,  you will be able to catch it and a couple of its moons.   














 This graphic shows where the planet and its moons were situated on this date.   You can see the moons Io and Ganymede were directly over Jupiter in their orbits.  




March 3rd


March 4th

Jupiter was still out the next evening so I took another picture to see the difference.  In this view Ganymede has gone behind Jupiter and Callysto is rising.  

Some astro photographers have nice telescopes with camera mountings.  Some others even have the ability to mount their cameras as well as using a computer to direct the telescope wherever you so desire in the night sky.  Now that sounds like great summer fun.  I won't be doing that very soon what with the costs of setting up something like that, but even with my camera and tripod I am pleased to be able to do what I can.    

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