What an absolutely spectacular night out! Not a cloud in the sky! Jupiter and Venus are shining brigthtly in the west, with Mars just rising in the east. I got a few nice shots off too...
(I can see other planets from my back garden!)
(Venus and Jupiter with a plane and a ship passing)
I then decided, without much hope, to pull out my Dad's old binoculars, aimed them at Jupiter and lo and behold, the four Galilean moons were clearly visible! It's the first time I've seen them, and it was so awesome! Considering the serious amount of light pollution and the not-exactly-high-powered binoculars, I was amazed to see anything at all!
Here's a pretty good rendering of what I could see, using Stellarium.
(According to Stellarium, the moons are, from top left to bottom right, Callisto, Europa, Io and Ganymede)
I spent much longer than I should have outside in the cold, my fingers are now numb and typing this is difficult, but it was so worth it. Going to head back out in a minute, with gloves and a mug of tea this time...
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