Grab Your Telescope: Jupiter Will Shine Its Brightest Tonight

gizmodo ^ | May 8, 2018 | Ryan F. Mandelbaum

[Conan the Librarian]

If you look closer to midnight, Jupiter should be a yellow white.

Mars and Saturn come up later and Mars is red/orange all night long.

[Conan the Librarian]

I was out in the yard that night watching for the event. Didn’t see any flashes, but, did see the bruises.

[BobL]

Don’t remember any flashes either, but those hits were MEAN...from all this far away, they made the Russian nukes look like cap guns.

[rlmorel]

Wow!!!!!! My wife got me some stabilized binoculars last year for my birthday, and this was the first time I saw Jupiter like this! I could see the moons clear as day (three of them) and I swear I was on the cusp of seeing the bands on Jupiter!

Wow!

[BobL]

“Wow!!!!!! My wife got me some stabilized binoculars”

Now listen son, do not, I repeat DO NOT, use Alkaline batteries in that unit. Use Lithium batteries, like these, assuming they come in the size you need (they come in AA, AAA, and 9V):

http://www.energizer.com/batteries/energizer-ultimate-lithium-batteries

A while ago I read reviews on your type of instrument and the biggest problem, by far, was leakage of the battery cells ruining the device (and at least one company not willing to fix them or do anything to help their buyers). Lithium batteries don’t leak, alkalines, of course do leakage.

Those binoculars sound AMAZING, I’m getting very tempted too!

[rlmorel]

Thanks for the advice, I will do that. I will say, though, that the way these are constructed, the battery pack (two AA) are external to the camera, a little container on the side strap your hand goes through. I think if a battery leaked in there, I could McGyver a repaired one on my own.

I didn't know if that was a good feature or not, but now, hearing you say that...I wonder if that wasn't deliberate.

Gotta say, I have been using them extensively, but last night...here is what Jupiter looked like before and what it looked like afterwards (this is just how I perceive it, a Photoshop I created):

I am trying to figure out a way to get these on a tripod and hook a camera or smart phone up...I did a proof of concept (and have been riveting and bending pieces of aluminum stock) and I think if I succeed I could see the bands on Jupiter with no problem. I love my tripod, but...it isn't made for this kind of thing, sadly. It is made to be light and portable.

Anyway, thank you for that advice!

[rlmorel]

Yes...see my post at #26...just cool!

Man, my wife sure did give me something she knew I would love. Those binoculars are just great!

I am an aviation enthusiast, and I have a flight path into a major airport that runs east to west, and with the naked eye, the airliners look like little light colored specks.

With these binoculars, I can easily identify the airline livery and type of aircraft. Heh, I was out there smoking my pipe looking at planes recently, and my wife laughed at me and said I looked like a WWII air raid warden out there!

[BobL]

SWEET! You’re welcome, and I agree, they got sick of the one-star reviews on Amazon with batteries going south in their units. And I don’t really blame them for not fixing the units after a battery meltdown - while $2000 seems like a lot of money to us, it’s not much more than one full worker shift-day for them, plus the overhead involved in processing the repair...and it would probably take a full day of work to repair the units.

The Lithium batteries are great. I’m using them in everything with a low duty cycle (i.e., where they may sit for years), and the price has been steadily dropping, close to $1.00 per cell now, started out at twice that price. No more having to remove the batteries after each use, or worse, forgetting to remove the batteries. I also sharpie (i.e., label) my stuff using the Lithium batteries, so I don’t have to keep checking to see what’s inside. Finally, they’re good for at least 10 years with virtually no self-discharge, and probably are decent at 20 years.

[rlmorel]

I’m on it...you have convinced me!

[BobL]

Excellent!