Have I seen Jupiter last night?

[Roshi]

Last night I came back from a friends place and just when I entered my car I noticed a partial lunar eclipse. I returned home, unpacked my telescope and spent a lot of time simply gazing at her beauty. When the eclipse was over, I took a look around to see if there was something else to watch. I noticed a bright point, at the Moon's right, approximately 45° from my relative position, on the same plane. I remember last week on the radio, somebody said Jupiter was in the "Moon's vicinity". Since every object in the sky drifts, I wasn't sure whether it was Jupiter or not.
I saw something all right. I think the color was yellowish sand and I hope I didn't imagine parallel lines. It looked like a kid's marble. And I also saw a strange pattern (I really don't know, so please pardon this neophyte question): is it possible that I saw Jupiter and its moons? The pattern went like this:

. . . o.

(what I saw was reaaaally tiny)

Could you please confirm that I saw what I just described?

Thanks.

 

[bryce]

You indeed saw Jupiter.

My kids and I looked at it with my battered old Astroscan a few nights ago. It was next to the Moon.

If you look close, you can see 3 or 4 tiny "stars" next to it, all in a plane - those are a few of Jupiter's moons. That's the pattern you saw!

And with a good scope, you you can just about make out bands.

 

[Roshi]

Thanks for the confirmation!

w00t!

 

[Neroon]

We've been able to see Jupiter, bright and bold and beautiful for the past couple of weeks. It's been the brightest object in the night sky, next to the moon. Those little pinpoints of light that you've seen, which bryce confirmed are some of Jupiter's moons are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. More importantly, they make for a seminal sight in the understanding of the heavens.

For one, Galileo proved that the telescope was more than invaluable as a tool, because it could peer into space seeing thigns that otherwise could not be viewed by human eye. But of perhaps greater importance, this was the fatal blow to the accepted model of the universe orbiting around the Earth. These moons orbited Jupiter, instead.

In short, you are seeing a profoundly historical sight in astronomy.