My neighbor swore I could use a pair of binoculars to see Jupiter's moons

So last Tuesday I tried it with some old 10x50s I found in a closet, and sure enough I spotted three tiny dots lined up next to the planet. The guy is 72 and has been watching the sky from his deck in Tucson for 40 years, so I shouldn't have doubted him. Has anyone else had success with binoculars for planets or is that just a fluke for Jupiter?

3 comments

3 Comments

holly_williams1mo ago

Faithb78, that shaky phone pic bit is too real. I tried to take a picture through my binos of Jupiter once and it looked like I was documenting a crime scene with a potato. The three tiny dots thing blew my mind too, mostly because I spent a good five minutes convincing myself I was just seeing floaters from staring at the sun earlier. My neighbor probably thinks I'm a moron now, but at least I can claim I've seen Jupiter's moons with my own two eyes, even if my brain argued the whole time. It's definitely not a fluke, but my setup makes it feel like one every time I try.

holly_williams1mo ago

@faithb78 sounds like your buddy and I are running the same potato lens operation.

faithb781mo ago

That three tiny dots bit is exactly what my buddy saw through his binos last winter. He texted me a shaky phone pic and I thought it was a smudge on his lens till I looked it up.