Seeing the Martian moons with a pair of $60 binoculars

[Alltimegreat1]

Is it possible?

 

[newjerseyrunner]

Not a chance, sorry. They're extremely tiny and orbit very close to Mars. Even with a large telescope you probably wouldn't be able to see them. Perhaps with some long CCD exposures and some software you might be able to get Deimos in an image.

 

[DrSteve]

Is it possible?

The law of diffraction provides the answer based on your optics diameter - and it is negative

 

[sophiecentaur]

Jovian moons are worth going for, though. Very impressive, for some reason. I guess it's because they are probably the first thing you see with your Real Astronomer's hat on.

 

[tony873004]

I once modified an eyepiece with an occulting bar. It's a piece of wire threaded across the diameter of the eyepiece at the focal point. I tried it on a rather large telescope (24 in?) in Sonoma county under a dark moonless night while Mars was at opposition. The occulting bar was used to block Mars so perhaps the moons would be visible.

I couldn't see them. But others in our group claimed they could. I asked them to sketch what they saw. Later, I looked up where the moons should have been at that time. It matched their observations.