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October Stargazing
by Phil Jones
The last of the
dry season still has some celestial viewings before the dust and
haze blot out the stars, and before the rains start next month with
their clouds and mist.
Looking north
in the early evening, Cygnus (The Swan) is a large inverted
cross-shaped figure, in the middle of the Milky Way and immediately
to the right of the bright star Vega and to the left of the Great
Square of Pegasus. Cygnus has five major stars one at each corner
and one in the middle and it is easy to imagine a long-necked swan
flying through the clouds of stars in the Milky Way. Its brightest
star is Deneb, located at the short end, derived from the Arabic
word denab meaning “tail”, which again demonstrates how astronomy
transcends cultural barriers.
The Great
Square of Pegasus is visible in the northern sky all evening,
starting in the northeast in the early evening and reaching its
highest point by around 2200. This asterism is in two
constellations Pegasus to the left and Andromeda to the right
and appears as a large geometrical figure in a part of the sky that
is generally devoid of other bright stars.
In the
Andromeda constellation appears the most distant deep space object
visible to the naked eye: the Andromeda Nebula. Look for it when
Andromeda is at its highest point after
midnight,
to the right and toward the horizon from the
Great Square.
If the haze is not too dense the vaguely cotton-like patch of the
2.2 million light year distant spiral galaxy (almost a twin of our
galaxy the Milky Way might be seen with the unaided eye or with
binoculars.
Early morning
viewing before sunup in October provides glimpses of some of the
brightest stars and planets. The planet Venus is the Morning Star
low on the eastern horizon before the sun comes up. Sirius (the
brightest star) is well above and to the right (south) of Venus, and
midway to the horizon below Sirius is Canopus, the second brightest
star. Orion with its unmistakable three-in-a row “Belt” is well to
the left of Sirius.
Still before
sunup, look for the planet Saturn in the east with the sliver of the
moon and grouped with bright stars Castor and Pollux (the Gemini
Twins) above Venus, in early October. On 14 October the moon will
be “New” on the other side of the sun and invisible to us. It
will be visible again in later October, starting with a sliver and
becoming a crescent in the middle of Scorpio by 17 October, and a
half circle (First Quarter) by the 20th when it is directly overhead
at sunset. It will increase to a full circle (Full Moon) on the
28th when it rises in the east just when the sun is setting in the
west.
One final treat
for the very end of October is the appearance of the planet Jupiter
in the east immediately below Venus just before sunup. Trees, haze,
and clouds will block the view, but it is worth looking for, and if
we are really lucky a clear morning with an unobstructed horizon
will reveal Mars below Jupiter. One last look on 5 November will
show Venus and Jupiter very close together just before the sun comes
up. Here's wishing everyone clear skies and a distant horizon!
The last lunar
eclipse until 2007 will be visible from Zambia before sunup on the
morning of October 28th with a duration of about 90 minutes from
start to finish.
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October 2004