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I have the same problem. If you wear a baseball cap and rest the fingers that aren't holding the binoculars on the brim of the cap, it helps a little bit. But, Jupiter was nothing more than a dancing ball of light when I looked through the binoculars. My wife, on the other hand, claimed she could see points of light around Jupiter that she assumed were the moons.

The best binoculars are the lightest ones, and they are a little pricey. But you'd be surprised at how steady they hold in your hand while stargazing. You can get a stand for them, too, or even gerry-rig a camera stand. But if you have a decent zoom lens, you can see much of this, too. I've been doing so for the past ten years, and we've been lucky, what with the comets and close passing of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.

I was at Promontory Point (with a small group, including coppers) and could see the little moons as points of light. Seeing the color of Jupiter is almost shocking.

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The Point! One of my favorite places since I was a kid. I thought that I had had all kinds of fun there until the day I got in my car and discovered the half bundle of wood leftover from the small bonfire my son and his Kenwood classmates had there the previous night.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

I'm glad you were able to see it. I got the dancing ball of light. Won't be putting any money into anything better than what I currently have. Don't care that much but would have been neat to see it a bit more close up. My wife has a friend that has a telescope and she let them know about it but not sure if she heard back from her.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

my parents used to take me there for Venetian Night every summer. Great memories

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

It's been a while since we talked in this thread. I miss it. Let's change that.
Look west after sunset tonight. Just after sunset... while it's still a bit light out there. You'll see Venus, a very bright "star", and you'll see above it Jupiter. Over the next week and a half, they'll get closer and closer together, until they're so close on March 1st that they'll be less than a full moons width apart! A decent set of binoculars will reveal the 4 biggest moons of jupiter, and will show you the phases that Venus goes thru. Yup! Venus goes thru phases like the moon does. Check it out!

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

I feel like I saw three planets visible the other night—is Saturn in view as well?

Can you make a recommendation for “good” binoculars in terms of power and brand?

Getting a good look at Saturn through a good telescope is amazing.

I don't use binoculars for viewing myself, I've got a celestron nextstar 8se with starsense auto alignment. But... for casual viewing and for sports and stuff I'd say you Wang something like maybe 20x80s. Orion and celestron make nice costed optics.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Oh... and saturn is on the other side of the sun... not visible for a few months.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Hes right.
I'd love to fund a nice clear night to have yall meet me out in my hood area to do some late summer viewing. We'll see some cool shit. Funny thing is... everyone's favorite object, besides jupiter and saturn, is the moon. My score is an 8 inch, so it collects a lot of light. The moon is so bright in it I have to use a filter to view it comfortably. Only let's thru about 11% of the light. I've got light pollution filters and hydrogen and oxygen filters for nebula viewing too.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Do you view Ur anus?

How old are you?

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

This sounds cool.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Dude it is.
Not far from the estates we have some bortle 6 skies. Not bad for some deep sky viewing. Would love to have you out. And the kids would dig it too. You should think about it dude.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

I was going to as if I could get a look at Uranus too.

I may take you up on that offer.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

I'd love that. We really don't have to wait for fall skies... summer skies have some interesting objects too and it's more pleasant for the microdudes. That being said, for the next couple years jupiter is more of a late fall early winter object and saturn will be a summer object. Moon stuff anytime. Just so ya know, plan on spending a night at the estates or getting a room cause it's all late night stuff but you're welcome here.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Tonight and tomorrow the moon will be joining Venus and Jupiter in the western sky at sunset.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Will I need a telescope?

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This is a naked eye conjunction. You can easily view Venus and jupiter as they are the first and second brightest objects in the sky respectively, after the sun and the moon. If you wish to see the phases of Venus or the moons and banding of jupiter, you will need a small telescope or high quality binoculars.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Thank you

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So I'm seeing that sunset is at 5:32 pm...I'm near the Estate, so should I go out before or after? its still fucking cold out there

If it's not cloudy yet... just after sunset. Call ot 545.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Both a band name and a medical condition.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

40 years old and I still work with guys like that everyday. Women are so mentally distraught all the time just wishing for a good man to love them and when they find him he can't stop the anus dad jokes.

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

A CME is forecast to hit earth sometime on the 27th or 28th. It could cause a G3 geomagnetic storm.
What's this mean to you? Not much. Maybe some GPS syncing issues or if you have really sensitive electronics you may get false voltage alarms or some voltage corrections may be necessary. It is possible we could see aurora (northern lights) in dark skies.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

ACME stuff never works. It's was documented on countless Saturday mornings.