Two nights ago I was out on the terrace with a glass of wine, and I looked up at the sky, as you do. There were the two bright stars - though the moon wasn't between them like it was a couple of weeks ago. The star on the right looked a bit odd so I squinted at it, and I could have sworn it had two moons of its own!
Could that have been true? My eyesight is atrocious - 10 in one eye and 11 in the other, with incipient cataracts - and it was my third glass of wine.
Yes, incipient cataracts have a way of doing that. Those two planets are Jupiter and Venus. Venus is the very bright one. And Jupiter does have several moons but you wouldn't see them with the naked eye. Decent bins might pick them up but a basic telescope will. My telescope is a 3 inch reflector and it can easily see four of Jupiter's moons. Amazing sight.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, if you really did see something as big and bright as another full moon, that would probably be Betelgeuse blowing up. Or a very good bottle of wine.