I have a pretty good idea that I am posting this in the incorrect forum. I couldn't find one titled Astronomy 101 or the like so please forgive me.

My problem:
Recently Jupiter has been quite pronounced and notable in the southern sky. I was telling a friend of mine this and on a clear moonless night I could even show him the moons orbiting Jupiter. He agreed that it was Jupiter but said there is no way you can see the moons with the naked eye. Every night I look up at Jupiter and its almost like you could chart their orbits so I find this hard to believe. We don't use telescopes just our less than perfect vision.

Could any astronomers help to clear up this dilemna?

Thanks in advance.

I dragged your thread over the Space exploration.

To answer your question: Maybe.
Perfect night, and perfect sight..you might.
With some very low powered binoculars the Galilean moons, IO, Callisto, Europa, and Ganymede are all visible.
I've even photographed them with a digital camera. No detail whatsoever but, a few photos taken over a short period of time, will reveal their motions. Little pinpoints of light that change positions.



[edit on 7-10-2008 by spacedoubt]

The moon is kind of in the way tonight but I swear you can see several moons. Some appear much further than others. I can count about 4 or 5. Maybe I need to bust out the binoculars which I will do shortly and report back.

Even back in July, I was astonished to see Jupiter's moons through my binoculars. I remember as a kid looking through a telescope and being able to make them out, but never otherwise. Like you said, I can also see them with the naked eye - they're faint dots along a small diagonal plane stretching from Jupiter's lower left to the upper right.