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Go outside and look up!

You won’t see this. I mean, you will see this, but tiny. But bigger than usual!

Actually, Jupiter was at its closest and brightest was on November 4, but Uncle B read on t’Internet that it was bright tonight and we ran outside and looked up and it sure was.

You may think a dot in the sky being slightly larger than usual isn’t very exciting, but Jupiter is special. At any given time, you can see up to four of Jupiter’s moons with an ordinary pair of binoculars.

The first time I read that, there was an unusual confluence and, sure enough, there I saw all four of them – dot-dot-dot-dot – in a perfectly straight line, evenly spaced, on the left side of Jupiter. Which looked totally fake and wrong.

Tonight I saw at least one moon, but holding binoculars to my face and staring up gave me the dizzies, so I didn’t persist.

Also visible with binoculars: NASA ladies lose their handbag in space. You can watch video of it tumbling through the cosmos. Not unheard of, but it does seem the lady astronauts lose their bags more often.

“In September 2023, the European Space Agency estimated 35,290 objects were being tracked and cataloged by the various space surveillance networks, with the total mass of objects orbiting Earth amounting to more than 11,000 tons.”

Wear a hat.

Comments


Comment from ExpressoBold Pureblood
Time: November 15, 2023, 7:57 pm

Interesting new space/science/future series, reminiscent of The Expanse, Beacon 23.

I haven’t sussed out all the plot yet but there is so much space junk around the beacon that I have to believe that space junk plays a major part in the story.

I found it on Prime Video.


Comment from durnedyankee
Time: November 15, 2023, 9:08 pm

Floating handbags.
That’s because lady spacesuits don’t have pockets so as avoid the disruption of viewing their peachy posterior through the no-VPL space suits they wear.

I read that in the Daily Mail.
I think.

and thankyou Expressobold. I thought The Expanse was good, hope this is as well.


Comment from QuasiModo
Time: November 15, 2023, 9:57 pm

I’ve been seeing that brighter than usual object in the sky, cool! I thought it was Venus 🙂


Comment from Deborah HH
Time: November 16, 2023, 12:59 am

I love sky-watching, and Jupiter has been spectacular this week. And I’ve had cataract surgery so now I can see Andromeda. Well, the smudge that is supposed to be Andromeda.


Comment from dissent555
Time: November 16, 2023, 5:00 am

Find the positions of the Galilean moons for your desired date and time –
https://shallowsky.com/galilean/

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