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Welome Jungle Junkie: I will inscribe your name on the honour roll at the beginning of this quiz (along with bishop3006 and TimePilot). You'd better NOT only commit yourself to answer one question - the clues will always be found! You just have to look! Remember, I'm going to keep the learning simple and slow (never mind if others want to dash along at a reckless rate: I will pretty much go at an average, leopard-tortoisey pace.

Well, the cat's out o' the bag, I guess ... or, in this case, the god is out of the eclipse:

JUPITER it indeed is! Well done to all of you! However, the most important thing is that you go and look at it!! Too many people sit in front of book and internet star charts and "view" stars uner the comfort of an immovable roof! To look is to learn ...

That's two more than most, Siobain!

Hello again,
I did go and try to have a look, but in a city environment my view is blocked by buildings all around and of course there is also some cloud cover?? So I did not even see Jupiter, never mind the moons

But I have my notepad all ready to learn

JJ

I didn't see a single star due to the cloud cover, let alone Jupiter with its moons. Ja ja, I know - wondered how awake you were

Jungle Junkie and Bishop: sadly there was some cloud cover tonight, hindering observation. However, the good news is that Jupiter will still be around for a couple of weeks, albeit lower and lower in the sky after sunset. So, there is no reason that you don't have to still search for it!

JJ, can you not find a gap in the buildings that faces west, or even climb up one of the buildings (on the inside, please) and look out? It would be a pity if you would have to wait several months before seeing it again!

The heavens opened and caused a flood here, so alas, no Jupiter sighting for me tonight either! (sigh)

But there's always tomorrow ... one day closer to seeing a wonder of the heavens!

I had guessed it may be Jupiter, but since I am in the Northern Hemisphere I was not sure. Glad you are adding tips for us northern tribesmen (and women).

Hi normana53. Depends where you are in the northern hemisphere, I suppose, regarding if they address you as tribesmen/tribeswomen.

See, I started specifically with the planets because you guys in the NH still get to see them: they follow the sun's path and are therefore always in a narrow band along this path. The result is that, because most of you see the sun all the time, the planets are there too! If any of you don't follow this for now (I'll explain it again at a much later stage), just accept that you northern mites will see Jupiter and all the other planets too if we see them.

[b]I will not leave you NH (Northern Hemisphere) guys out, I promise [/b]- even when we get to the stars; at first, I'll try and do constellations and stars that most of us can see and, where your sky is appreciably different to ours, I will set a separate question just or you!

Thanks for playing, normana53

Okay, before we go and find ANOTHER planet in the night skies, I want to give you all a few days to go and appreciate Jupiter and its four main moons.

For anyone who doesn't know, a moon is a large chunk of rock (sometimes roundish, sometimes strange shapes) that orbits (goes around) a planet. Just like our Moon goes around Earth. (Strange, I suppose, but our moon is called the Moon, while other moons have different names. )

The weather hasn't played ball in many regions the last few days, so I don't want you to miss the spectacular Jupiter and its moons. Take a binocs if you can. Country viewing is best, but city viewing is still quite adequate.

Okay, that gives me some time to address the two questions that were posed by Siobain and Oddesy (on pg.2). Siobain's question I'm going to post here because I think many mites will benefit from it. Oddesy, I hope you don't mind, but I'm moving yours to the Advanced Stargazing Quiz to see what the mites will say about it there.

Okay, so the question is ...

Question:

Are the stars stationary, or do they move?

Think carefully about this one, as it has quite an interesting answer!

OWN, are we allowed/supposed to, be discussing this now?

I would say stars move - everything else in the universe seems to be moving why not stars?
There are binary stars, going round each other, so they are moving.
But how you tell if single stars are moving, could be by the speed they move - If a fast star's position is seen against a slow star's and it is in a different place then Voila! it moved?
The sun also moves in our galaxy.

I am just thinking out loud here - have no idea really

OWN - Just loving this QUIZ (more of a course for me)

JJ

How can you say you have no idea, JJ? That was a good effort! Glad you're liking the quiz/course!

I have always thought that stars were stationary and the rotation of Earth gives the illusion
of the movement of stars. Cruising the internet, I also found that most astronomers asked this
question, to keep things simpler say this very thing. However, after extensive reading, I came
across one answer that sounded more plausible, and it goes like this:

Due to the gravitational pull of planets and I would think some of the larger stars and, other
material within our galaxy stars do actually move, but, because of their distance from Earth,
this movement can only be observed over time with very precise instruments. This motion
observed from Earth then, is not fast enough over the scale of distance involved for us to
notice in our lifetime.

This sounds good, but I'm not sure if it's completely accurate.