10:15pm

I was still at work when Joe arrived at Rich’s house tonight around 9:30. He brought along a slightly larger scope that we hoped would give us a better view of Saturn and Jupiter, and perhaps even Mars. They had great views of Saturn (and a Mars sighting) early in the evening, but by the time I got home around 10:15, only a few minutes remained to view Saturn. I took advantage of the opportunity and watched until it had descended too far into the haze to be recognizable.

Then we turned our attention to Jupiter. Joe’s scope gave us a bigger and brighter view of the bands and the moons! We enjoyed being able to share our “discovery” with someone else. Tonight, only three moons were visible; Jupiter blocked our view of Ganymede.

The rest of the night was spent looking at some of Joe’s photos from Acadia and, after Joe left, sharing a bottle of wine, some cheese and crackers, smiles and laughter, and Forensic Files before bed.

4:00am (Friday)

Now Callisto is hiding and Ganymede has emerged: