Very nice night here in central Vermont...the cold weather helps a lot with viewing the stars. I wish I had a telescope, Jupiter and Saturn are in a great position tonight. Really beautiful out there!

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"4th Law of Modern Thermodynamics: Where Mihoshi is, Chaos Reigns." ~W. Hakubi
"Gun control is hitting your target; Recycling is reloading your brass." ~ Lex of Dirty Work.

Just get a starchart, a red torch and some binoculars.

I brought my modest 4" reflector to my most recent camping trip. My buddies were amazed when they got to see Saturn. It just looks so unreal, suspended in the sky with the ring around it.

Flashlight to those in the US, where a "torch" is something that angry villagers carry (along with pitchforks) when they storm the castle of the mad doctor.

[img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

That's what I meant. You need to burn down the houses of the villagers so they don't turn their lights on and ruin your dark vision. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_lol.gif[/img]

But the smoke from the fires is even worse, when lit from underneath by the flames.

Best to just cut their power lines.

Try looking at Saturn in a 2 ft telescope (from an observatory). Amazing amazing amazing. Jupiter is nice too. I plan on hopefully getting a 4" Nexstar telescope this year, and was supposed to go back to the observatory tonight. Rain has interfered with my plans, however. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_frown.gif[/img]

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-Zap
If you didn't like the opinions expressed in this post, get over it!

Obviously you should extinguish the flames first.

Yes but then you could get arrested for willful destruction of vital infrastructure.

With a pair of 7x or 8x binoculars you can see Jupiter's four biggest moons. The binoculars must be focussed accurately and held absolutely still -- I use a cloth bag half filled with rice to cradle the binoculars against the corner of a wall, and I keep my eyes a little back from the eyepiece to prevent jiggling the binoculars.

You can also see that Saturn forms a slight oval shape in binoculars.

Then there's the Omega Centauri globular cluster, LMC, SMC, Jewel Box etc. -- all naked-eye sights for us southerners.

Added: Yee-hah! Tonight I saw the ISS on two successive orbits. First time was by accident -- stepped outside and happened to immediately see it a few degrees above Jupiter, and the next was by looking it up on http://www.heavens-above.com


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Kiwi on 2003-02-22 05:44 ]</font>