The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #170768   Message #4135224
Posted By: Steve Shaw
04-Feb-22 - 08:12 AM
Thread Name: BS: SPACE - James Webb Telescope LAUNCH-Dec 2021
Subject: RE: BS: SPACE - James Webb Telescope LAUNCH
There's a free app called Jupiter Moon Tracker which shows you the positions at any time on any date, including right now, of the Galilean moons of Jupiter (Ganymede, Callisto, Europa and Io). They're very easy to see through binoculars (get your pinpoint focus right first!) and they're always in just about the same plane, to the "side" of the planet. Obviously, you only see the ones that are not directly in front of or behind the planet, but they move fast. If you use a telescope instead, you'll see the image upside down. I haven't got a telescope so I dunno whether this app can flip the image. There are pay-for apps that will do that. I love stuff like this.

My fifty-quid Olympus 8x30 binoculars are apparently better than anything Galileo had!