Not bad for a $35 telescope and a compact digital camera.

[laconicsax]

Jupiter and its moons left to right: Callisto, Ganymede, Io, Europa.



It's harder to hold the camera steady for long exposures than I expected.

[Forkboy]

1. Cool!

[UndertheOcean]

2. I heard that there are people that can see Jupiter's moons with the naked eye , wonder if that is tr

[laconicsax]

4. I doubt it is.

Galileo first discovered them while looking through his telescope. They're quite clear (as tiny pinpricks of light) under 15x magnification, but I doubt they can be seen with the naked eye.

You can try to see for yourself though--Jupiter should rise in the east (about due east I think) around midnight. If you go http://www.wunderground.com/sky/index.asp">here and search your zip code, you'll be able to see the sky as it'll be tonight. All you should need to do to find exactly where Jupiter will be is redraw the chart for midnight or 1 AM on 7/22.

[mnhtnbb]

3. Wow. I'm impressed! My father was an amateur astronomer and we had

observatories (with telescopes) in the back yard of every house I remember living in when growing up.
Eventually, my father donated his 21" reflector to San Diego State and they use it for Summer star parties in the Laguna Mountains of San Diego.

http://mintaka.sdsu.edu/facilities/21_in_scope.html

[laconicsax]

5. Cool.

I'd love to have a big telescope. Luckily, my little 3" reflector gives pretty good views, even with the mediocre/crap eyepieces it came with.

[mnhtnbb]

6. Yes, but he was a Republican, unfortunately.

[laconicsax]

7. Doh! There's always a catch. n/t

[Curmudgeoness]

8. For long exposures, do you have a tripod? Inexpensive and life is much easier.

[laconicsax]

9. I think I might, but it wouldn't help much.

The problem is that the telescope is a tiny Dobsonian, so the camera needs to be brought to the eyepiece and held steady. Doing so also has a tendency to add a bit of a wobble to the telescope too, so it's hard to keep things steady.

[Curmudgeoness]

10. Whoa. Great photos for all that! I just can't hold a camera that steady. nt