If you have been out when there were no clouds this past week Jupiter was showing off in the east, seeming to be all alone in the darkening sky by eight o’clock. With a decent telescope which has been allowed to acclimate to the temperature outside, the patterns of the cloudy surface will be visible. Currently passing through the constellation Pisces, below the Great Square of Pegasus, be sure to scope the surface and notice the colors of its cloud cover. Perhaps you will set up your telescope for Halloween passers-by to be treated to Jupiter that night.
Saturn will also be visible just above the constellation Capricornus. If you have an opportunity to see Saturn through a telescope, take it. The view is bound to affect you in ways that surprise you. Even with a small GOOD telescope you will likely be able to see Titan, Saturn’s largest moon just north of Saturn.
October is the month we look forward to the annual Orionid meteor shower. The apparent source of the meteors is the constellation Orion, as you might have guessed. Orion will have risen from the eastern horizon by 10:30 p.m. and the waning crescent moon will not be a limiting factor this time. Predictions are for up to 20 meteors per hour at the peak observable time, between 2 a.m. and dawn. The closer we are to dawn, the greater the expected number of meteors. This is a long-period window of viewing, from October 2 – November 7, with the peak on October 21.
These meteors are the by-product of the passing of Comet 1P/Halley through the inner solar system. Like dust from an enthusiastic chalkboard eraser cleaner, or the house-dust raised in a cleaning frenzy, the debris from the comet is suspended in the vacuum of space. Our spaceship earth regularly passes through the debris and those earth- inhabitants who bother to look up are astonished.
Late night/early morning sky watchers can enjoy Taurus, the Bull and look for Mars in its middle. The Bull will rise about 10 p.m. and be well up in the sky by midnight. The malevolent red eye of the wicked mythological character glares at Orion as this massive constellation rises up from the eastern horizon, coming to do battle for the maidens being carried off by Taurus. The delicate arrangement of stars that marks the Pleiades looks a bit like a small kite sent aloft by a whimsical child. Mars, Aldebaran and Betelgeuse will form an obvious triangle when the sky is clear.
Towards north is the graceful draping of stars that marks Perseus. Below Perseus is a pentagonal shape, Auriga (or-EYE-ga) the Charioteer. The focal star is Capella, a large golden star marking one of the corners of the group. The word Capella means “she goat.” The fourth brightest star in the heavens, Capella is a binary star, or double-star system. Both components are about the same temperature of our sun, but many times larger and brighter, not to mention 45 light years away.
There is also an additional small group of stars in this constellation, an asterism called “The Kids”, referring to young goats carried on the shoulders of Auriga. And although the Kids appear to be right next to Capella, actually they are 370, 1200, and 3000 light years away.
Accompanying these constellations is the circumpolar constellation of Cassiopeia, the oddly stretched M shape, marking the vain queen of Ethiopia who sits on her throne in the northern regions throughout each season of every night.
Until next week, KLU.
