Features: Calendar | Lunar Almanac | Monthly Topic
This Month's Night Sky - NOTE: The next paragraph describes the sky as it
appears at 10 pm EST (11 pm EDT) near mid- month. The sky also looks
this way at 11 pm EST (midnight EDT) during the beginning of the month and
at 9 pm EST (10 pm EDT) by month's end.
Although the Summer Triangle is still visible in the W,
the Square of Pegasus is now prominent high in the S. Far
below, lonely Formalhaut (Piscis Austrinus) still glitters
near the S horizon. Between Pegasus and the N pole star,
Polaris (Ursa Minor), find the familiar "W" shaped
asterism of Cassiopeia. If you are fortunate to be
viewing from a dark site, you will also see the
constellations, Perseus and Auriga, with its bright star,
Capella, embedded in a starry band stretching across the
night sky from E to W. You are looking at the Milky Way,
one of the spiral arms of our galaxy. In the E the
constellations, Gemini, with its bright twin stars, Castor
and Pollux, and Orion, with its distinctive hour glass
asterism, rise above the E horizon. Now the Big Dipper
(Ursa Major) dips low in the N.
MERCURY hangs low on the W. horizon until a bit after mid
month, then appears in the morning sky. VENUS shines high
in the E before dawn. Orangish MARS rises after midnight
and glows brightly in the ENE. From now until next
February it will be as big and bright as it will get until
2016. JUPITER shines low in the SW as night falls. By
the end of the month, it will set about an hour after dark.
SATURN appears near Venus in the early morning sky.
Although the ORIONID METEOR SHOWER peaks on the 21st.,
look for activity for several nights before and after the
21st.
Calendar of Events
NOTE: For those observers not in the ET zone, convert the calendar times to your zone's time by subtracting one hour for CT, two for MT and three for PT. Don't forget to adjust for Daylight Savings Time when necessary by subtracting one hour from your planisphere's time.; Dawn and dusk times must also be corrected. See your local newspaper, TV news, or cable TV's Weather Channel for sunrise and sunset times. Unfortunately some of these events may occur during daylight hours in your area.
| DATE | EVENT |
03-04 |
Just before dawn, look ENE for a close "conjunction" (< 1 degree) of Mars and M35 (Gemini). M35 is a fine open star cluster located at the "toe" to the right and below the famous "twins", Castor and Pollux. M35 should be visible to the naked eye from a dark location. This should be a good binocular event and a good star chart is highly recommended! |
05 |
Before dawn, look for another close "conjunction"
(< 1 degree) of the crescent Moon and M44, the
Beehive Cluster in Cancer. M44 is easily visible
but Cancer has no bright stars! It is to the left
and below the Gemini Twins, Castor and Pollux, to
the right and above Regulus (Leo) and below and to
the left of Procyon of Canis Minor. This would be
another fine binocular event and a good star chart
would definitely be required! |
06 |
Look for a conjunction (3 degrees) of the Moon and Venus at 11 pm. |
07 |
Look E at 4:30 am for a close "conjunction" (0.2 degrees of the crescent Moon with the bright star Regulus (Leo) above. Venus shines off to the right of Regulus while Saturn glows below and to the left of the Moon |
09 |
The Draconid meteor shower peaks. This is considered a minor show although outbursts have been recorded. Since the Moon is near its "new" phase, observing conditions should be good. Its parent is thought to be Comet Giacobini-Zinner. |
12 |
Look for a close conjunction (1+ degrees) of the Moon and Mercury at 9 pm. |
15 |
Look SW about an hour after sunset to see a nice triangular arrangement of the crescent Moon with Jupiter directly above and the bright star, Antares (Scorpius,) to the right. |
16 |
Look for a conjunction (5 degrees) of the Moon and Jupiter at 2 am. |
20 |
Look ESE about an hour before sunrise to see Saturn shining above bright Venus. |
21 |
Look SE at 2 am to find the radiant (apparent origin) of the Orionid meteor shower at its peak. The meteors appear to come from a point just above and to the left of the bright star Betelgeuse (Orion) and to the right of Mars. This year's shower begins around the 2nd. and continues through November 7th. and is the result of the multiple passes of Comet 1P (Halley's Comet) through the inner solar system. The hours before dawn offer the best view of these events as the debris ram into our atmosphere at speeds of around 40 miles/ second! These are among the fastest meteors and leave long and bright trails as the particles incinerate. |
26 |
Tonight's full Moon is called the "Hunter's Moon" and is closest to the Earth for this year. Therefore it will be the this year's largest and brightest. |
27 |
When the Moon rises at dusk, look for an occultation of members of the famous open star cluster, the Pleiades, M45 (Taurus). "Click" on the IOTA's (International Occultation Timing Association's) web site: www.lunar-occultations. com/iota/plnam/pleiades.htm for a time table for your area. |
Lunar Almanac for October 2007
| Phases of the Moon | Phase and Date(s) | Best viewed before local midnight |
 |
New |
Deep Space Objects |
 |
1st. Qtr |
Planets & Moon |
 |
Full |
Moon |
 |
Last |
Deep Space & Planets |
Topic of the month: Lunar feature: Albategnius
Albategnius is a good example of a walled plain about 80
miles across and is best observed during the Moon's first
quarter phase. Although it is an old impact site showing
much erosion, the crater's outline is still easy to see.
Its walls contain high peaks which rise some 10 to 14,000
feet above its floor. There are many interesting small
craters, craterlets and other features to observe on its
floor. A massive, triangular mountain rises from its
center.
--See you next month ! |
|
This installment of "Whats Up?" is ©2007 Ronald A. Leeseberg, encoded by Dawn Jenkins for Astra's Stargate.
What's Up Home | The Observer's Page
Links to other Stargate Pages:
[ Astronomy ] [ Space ] [ StarWimin ] [ Starfleet ] [ MayaAstro ] [ Observers ]
