Tonight: Supermoon, Jupiter and Jupiter’s 4 Moons

Stellarium:  Jupiter and it’s four moons tonight around 9:15 pm local time.

After you look at the supermoon tonight, the last supermoon until Oct 7, 2025, look at Jupiter, the brightest object below and to the left of the moon. With 10X binoculars and something steady to rest them on, you can see Jupiter’s four Galilean moons.  It is a pretty sight. Galileo spotted these moons in December 1609 or January 1610 and by March 1610 he figured out from their motion they were Jupiter’s moons and not stars. This diagram (above) shows you which moon is which tonight. Ganymede and Callisto are quite close together.

Photo: Jupiter with the Galilean moons, and Saturn with its moon Titan . December 21, 2020.

With a telephoto lens on your camera you can photograph them. Try ISO 1600 or ISO 3200, an aperture of f/11, and a shutter speed of 1/10 or 1/20 second. Obviously your camera/lens will need to be on a tripod.  Autofocus usually won’t work on the night sky. Read the first article in the links section below.

Photo: Jupiter, Saturn, their moons.  Inset from Stellarium.

To photograph the full moon I suggest you use Basic Daylight Exposure plus about 2 stops.  Start with ISO 400, f/11, and 1/200 second. If the moon looks too light or too dark, adjust the ISO or the shutter speed. Feel free to experiment.

The moon should still be very impressive tomorrow night (November 15). Jupiter and the four Galileans moons will be out too.  The position of the moons will change by tomorrow night.

Stellarium is free download software for your computer that allows you to look at simulated views of the night sky for any date and time of your choosing.

Links

How To Focus Your Lens at Infinity for Night Photography

Stellarium astronomy software