Outer Limits - News From Captain Curtis

Another week gone by.

First, I’d like to wish everyone a Happy Nascar Day! It’s Sunday and the big dogs of Nascar will be at the half mile track of Bristol, Tennessee.

Last weekend when my best friend Ramblin’ Ray was at home for a couple days, we were hanging out by the fire at Aunt Brenda's and Rocket Johnson's house, having a couple beers and some good conversations till about midnight. Well, on our short walk home, across the yard, I noticed a bright star in the night sky near the moon. I told Ray, “Look at that, buddy! I wonder what star that is?” So, I went inside and turned on my PC and went to Sky and Telescope.com to look at the sky chart for my area. “It’s Jupiter, Ray! I’m getting the scope on that!” So, I took my telescope out and using the 26mm lens (the wider viewing area lens), I focused in on the moon to get my bearings. Then I focused in on Jupiter. There were four stars surrounding Jupiter, two on each side. Then, I changed lenses to the 9.7mm to bring the planet in for a closer view. The four stars were really bright and I could see the stripes of Jupiter’s surface. Most awesome. I told Ray to come out and see this. He was in awe at our capability to see the stripes and we were wondering if those stars were moons of the planet.

Jupiter has 63 satellites. With four of those being large moons named Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. The other 59 satellites haven’t been categorized, they're most likely small fragments of asteroids that have been caught up in Jupiter’s gravity.

Jupiter, like Saturn, has rings, but those rings are darker and more difficult to see.

Since that night, we have had cloudy conditions most of the week, so, I couldn’t see the planet again. Plus, Jupiter came up from the south eastern horizon at around 11 pm. Past my bedtime..LoL. Anyway, last night was a nice clear night. I was hanging out by the fire, virtually by myself, and I watched Jupiter rise up over the horizon. I got out my telescope and got it into view. There were the four stars again, but this time, there was one star on one side and three on the other. Obviously, those are moons. Too cool. Although Jupiter didn’t seem to look as close as it did a week ago, I could still see the stripes. I called out my sister and brother-in-law, Aunt Brenda and Rocket Johnson to see this spectacular sight.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for your comments on my posts. I realize that I am a amatuer of telescoping the sky. When I get stronger lenses and maybe a digital lense, I will be able to share my findings with some photos of my own.

I would also like to thank Ray for my second roll. We were speeding around the yard in the go-cart when Ray decided to make a sharp turn left and rolled us over on MY side. I crawled out of the cart and grabbed the roof rail of the roll bars and pushed it back over onto its wheels with Ray still buckled in his seat. It was a hilarious sight, I’m sure. I jumped back in and we sped off down the dirt road.

As I travel on through my life, those memories will always be with me and I want to thank the people who took part in them.

Captain Curtis Reporting