Tonight, look for a super bright star just below the gibbous (football-shaped) moon. That star is actually the planet Jupiter, right around 446 million miles away.

Even with a binoculars or a small telescope you’ll see tiny little stars on either side of the planet. With a telescope you may even see horizontal dark lines across the disk of Jupiter, which are its cloud bands of ammonia, methane and other gases.

Remember to let your telescope with all the eyepieces that came with it sit outside a good half hour before you use the scope. The optics have to acclimate to the outside temperatures or your view could be really fuzzy.

Enjoy the moon and Jupiter!

(credit: Mike Lynch)