Amateur Astronomy Under The Big Sky
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  • 1 Moon Sets, 3 Moons Rise

    Posted on August 26th, 2009 Charlie Rose No comments

    Ha, My son Matt & I set up the 13 inch Gorsky scope on the driveway just as our earths moon was setting.  We turned the scope to Jupiter and proceeded to watch 3 moons pop out from around Jupiter within 25 minutes.  I noticed on the Sky & Telescope Jupiter’s Moons program that this was going to occur and was glad to see it happen live.  As Europa cleared the planet it was visible as a little bump on Jupiter….So we called it a “Zit”.   Jupiter only appeared to have 1 moon for a time before the acne problem developed.

    On September 2nd at  10:45 pm or so, Jupiter will appear to be without any moons for 1hr & 45 minutes till 2 moons appear within 10 minutes.  This is something else I want to see.  Kinda funny that on this night, Our moon Luna, will be darn near full, and right next to Jupiter in the sky….(Apparently).

    The web site to track Jupiter’s moons is: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/javascript/jupiter#

    Jupiter appearing moonless is a rare event that happens only about 20 times per century, and we have front row seats.

    Happy Gazing!

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