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The new change in observing Daylight Time in the United States means that even though daylight hours are shrinking as we head toward winter, the jump to dark skies in the early evening is pushed back until November. But the hours of daylight do shrink over the course of October by an hour and a half. The long dark winter is coming.
Observing Planets in October 2007
Jupiter is the planet to watch in the evenings. It has been bright in the south for months, and is making its way from the southeast to the southwest. The largest planet in the solar system can now be found in the southwest after dark. A nice grouping of the thin crescent moon and Jupiter occurs on October 15.
Early risers will have more planets to view this month than those observing after sunset. Before the sun rises Venus, the Morning Star, shines brilliantly in the east at magnitude -4.4. It currently resides in constellation of Leo the Lion.
Venus, Saturn, the star Regulus, and the moon have a conjunction on October 7 when they are less than six degrees apart. Venus is the brightest of the three point-like objects and Regulus is the dimmest. The moon will be just 12-percent lit. It will make for a beautiful photograph.
A week later, on October 14, Venus and Saturn get their closest to each other for the rest of the year. The two will lie less than three degrees apart. The other bright point of light in the sky this morning, above these two planets and shining with a reddish hue, is Mars.
Seeing the Milky Way
The astronomer and author Timothy Ferris claims that only one in five people alive today has seen the Milky Way. If you haven't yet, fall is a great time to do so. It stretches directly overhead from horizon to horizon. All you need is a dark location to see it. Take a drive out of the city to a quiet country lane, park, or wildlife area where you will find few, if any lights. Then just look up. As your eyes adjust to the darkness, look for a strip of light glowing brighter than the background darkness. You'll see that this brighter haze is really made up of distant stars in our galaxy. Use binoculars or a telescope to sweep the area and spot nebulae and clusters. To know when you've located the Milky Way, you should see the constellation Cygnus soaring across its length and pointing its direction from head to tail.
October's Meteor Showers
The first meteor shower of October peaks on the evening of October 8. The Draconid meteor shower is a minor shower but one that can be seen in the evening after it gets dark. This is because the constellation from which the meteors appear to come from is Draco, the long snaking Dragon shape that winds between the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper.
The second meteor shower of October is the Orionid meteor shower. This is normally one of the major meteor showers of the year, but it will be competing with a nearly full moon so the number of shooting stars that can be seen will be diminished by the brighter sky glow. The peak of the shower is October 21 and 22. The Orionids appear to come from the constellation of Orion, which does not rise above the eastern horizon until late in the evening.
October's Full Moon
The full moon in October this year is called the Hunter's Moon. What day it is full depends on where you live. The point of full moon for those on the east coast of the United States is Friday October 26 at 12:51 am EDT. So adjusting for the time change as you head west, the full moon is actually on Thursday before midnight (11:51 pm CDT, 10:51 pm MDT, and 9:51 pm PDT) for the rest of the country.
The full moon in October is the closest full moon of the year. On October 27, the moon occults some of the stars of the Pleiades star cluster for viewers in the eastern United States. By Halloween, October 31, the sky will be dark after sunset until the moon rises a couple hours later. Watch out for trick-or-treaters crossing the street! Read more about stargazing opportunities on Halloween.
The Night Sky for November 2007
