Archive
10/22/10 – Ephemeris – The Full Hunter’s Moon
Friday, October 22nd. The sun will rise at 8:06. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 39 minutes, setting at 6:46. The moon, is the full Hunter’s Moon, and will rise at 6:12 this evening.
The full moon is blinding in telescopes and binoculars. Well it is daylight there, and the moon is essentially the same distance from the sun as the earth. The face of the man in the moon is at its best visibility now. In binoculars or low power in telescopes the best feature to view is the ray system radiating out of the bright southern crater Tycho which is relatively fresh. Fresh on the moon is less than a billion years old, how much less is not known. Maybe the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter can help pinpoint the age or a visit by astronauts in the future. My general feeling is that the only good full moon is an eclipsed one. On the second full moon from now, on the morning of December 21st we will be able to witness total lunar eclipse, if it’s clear.
10/21/10 – Ephemeris – The Orionid meteors
Thursday, October 21st. The sun will rise at 8:05. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 42 minutes, setting at 6:48. The moon, 1 day before full, will set at 7:47 tomorrow morning.
We are now at the best time to see the Orionid meteor shower, but unfortunately the moon is near full and out all night.. However the brightest of the meteors will be visible. Like most meteor showers, this is best seen just before dawn. As the name suggests the so-called shooting stars will seem to come from the constellation Orion the hunter. Actually they will appear to come from above the rectangular torso of the giant. These meteors actually have nothing to do with Orion, but they are the light flashes from bits of rock that were once part of Halley’s comet, as they burn up in the earth’s atmosphere. In Halley’s many passes close to the sun, much of its solid material has been liberated by the evaporating gases, leaving a trail of litter in its orbit.
10/20/10 – Ephemeris – The planets and Comet hartley 2 for this week
Wednesday, October 20th. The sun will rise at 8:04. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 45 minutes, setting at 6:49. The moon, 2 days before full, will set at 6:44 tomorrow morning.
Lets take a look at the bright planets for this week. Venus and Mars are very low and lost in the evening twilight. Venus has a bit more than a week to be officially in the evening sky before it passes between the earth and the sun. It will then enter the morning sky where it appear quite suddenly a couple of weeks later. The planet Jupiter is up at sunset appearing in the southeastern sky in the early evening. It will move due south at 11:28 p.m.. It is the brightest starlight object in the sky. It’s located in Pisces this year and will set at 5:16 a.m. Comet Hartley 2 may be just visible in binoculars as a fuzzy spot in the pentagonal constellation of Auriga, below and right of the bright star Capella in the northeastern sky.
10/19/10 – Ephemeris – China’s Chang’E-2 lunar orbiter
Tuesday, October 19th. The sun will rise at 8:02. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 48 minutes, setting at 6:51. The moon, 3 days before full, will set at 5:42 tomorrow morning.
China launched their second Lunar orbited on October 1st. It arrived in lunar orbit 4 days later. China’s Chang’E spacecraft are named after an ancient legend if a young fairy who flew to the moon. This one is Chang’E-2 which follows after three years Chang’E-1. It has improved cameras over the first spacecraft. It is in a elliptical orbit of 62 miles at its farthest and only 9.3 miles at its closest. The Chang’E series are in preparation for the eventual Chinese landing of humans on the moon. Next for China is Chang’E-3 a lander and rover, and Chang’E-4 a sample return mission. [The manned landing on the moon is expected in the 2025 to 2030 range.]* The Chinese are also setting their sights on Mars and will piggyback a satellite on Russia’s next Mars mission.
*Text in brackets was dropped due to time constraints. I only have 59 seconds.
10/18/10 – Ephemeris – The moon’s orientation in a telescope
Monday, October 18th. The sun will rise at 8:01. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 51 minutes, setting at 6:52. The moon, half way from first quarter to full, will set at 4:41 tomorrow morning.
This evening the moon will be inviting to the telescope. Depending on your optical arrangement, you will see the moon in different orientations. When I describe the moon is describe it as seen in binoculars, right side up. The Feature that looks like an arc of mountains called the Jura mountains that contain the Bay of Rainbows or Sinus Iridium will appear to the upper left of the moon. In a Newtonian reflecting telescope the moon appears upside down so Sinus Iridium appears to the lower right. A printed moon map may only have to be turned upside down to match what you see. In a telescope with a diagonal mirror by the eyepiece gives a mirror image. Whether it is upside down or not depends on the orientation of the eyepiece.
10/15/10 – Ephemeris – GTAS Weekend Events
Friday, October 15th. The sun will rise at 7:57. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 1 minute, setting at 6:58. The moon, 1 day past first quarter, will set at 1:35 tomorrow morning.
There’s an event to be held this Sunday evening at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lake Shore. It’s sponsored by Families United in Nature. They’ve invited the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society to participate. If it’s good weather it will be held at stop #3 of the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive from 6 to 8 p.m. Since it won’t get too dark observing will include the sun, moon and the planet Jupiter. If inclement weather it will be held at the park headquarters in Empire. On Thursday the 21st there will be a celebration of the park’s 40th anniversary. We’ll be there again at the same locations though the end time will be at 9 p.m. giving us darker skies. Details of the society’s outreach program can be found at www.gtastro.org.
10/14/10 – Ephemeris – The star Capella
Thursday, October 14th. The sun will rise at 7:56. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 3 minutes, setting at 6:59. The moon, at first quarter today, will set at 12:32 tomorrow morning.
A bright star called Capella has slowly been rising in the northeastern sky in the evenings for the past few months. At 9 p.m. now it is low in the north northeast far below the letter “W” shaped constellation of Cassiopeia. This winter Capella will be overhead the highest of winter’s seven brilliant first magnitude stars. Capella never quite sets for anyone north of Ludington. Due to its brightness, and being the closest first magnitude star to the pole, Capella appears to move slowly as the earth rotates, and spends summer and autumn evenings close to the horizon, and has in years past elicited a few phone calls and other queries about that ‘bright object in the northeast’. Capella belongs to the pentagonal constellation of Auriga the Charioteer.
10/13/10 – Ephemeris – Planets for this week
Wednesday, October 13th. The sun will rise at 7:55. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 6 minutes, setting at 7:01. The moon, 1 day before first quarter, will set at 11:28 this evening.
Lets take a look at the bright planets for this week. Venus and Mars are very low and pretty much lost in the evening twilight. Venus is the brightest. It’s 29.3 million miles away and slowly approaching, and appears as a thin crescent, if you can find it. It will set at 7:15 p.m. Mars, though appearing farther from the sun, is too dim to be spotted in the bright twilight. The planet Jupiter is up at sunset and will move due south at 11:58 p.m.. It is very bright in the southeastern sky, and the brightest starlight object in the sky. It’s located in Pisces this year and will set at 5:47 a.m. Comet Hartley 2 may be just visible in binoculars as a fuzzy spot near the northern tip of the constellation Perseus closest to the W shape of Cassiopeia in the northeast.
10/12/10 – Ephemeris – The Pleiades or Seven Sisters
Tuesday, October 12th. The sun will rise at 7:53. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 9 minutes, setting at 7:03. The moon, 2 days before first quarter, will set at 10:26 this evening.
A marvelous member of the autumn skies can be found low in the east northeast after 9 in the evening. It is the famous star cluster called the Pleiades or the Seven Sisters. I might also add the ‘Tiny Dipper’. Many people can spot a tiny dipper shape in its six or seven stars, and mistake it for the Little Dipper. As nearsighted as I am, though corrected, I’ve never been able to see more than a few stars and a bit of fuzz. However with binoculars, even I can see over a hundred stars appear along with the dipper shape of the brightest. The fuzz I saw was unresolved stars, but in photographs the Pleiades actually contains wisps of the gas they are passing through currently. They were born from a hundred million years ago. In Greek mythology the sisters were daughters of the god Atlas.
10/11/10 – Ephemeris – The constellation Pegasus
Monday, October 11th. The sun will rise at 7:52. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 12 minutes, setting at 7:04. The moon, 3 days before first quarter, will set at 9:29 this evening.
Rising ever higher in the east at as it gets dark around 9 p.m. can be found one of the great autumn constellations: Pegasus the flying horse of Greek myth. Its most visible feature is a large square of four stars, now standing on one corner. This feature, called the Great Square of Pegasus, represents the front part of the horse’s body. The horse is quite aerobatic, because it is seen flying upside down. Remembering that fact, the neck and head is a bent line of stars emanating from the right corner star of the square. Its front legs can be seen in a gallop extending to the upper right from the top star of the square. From the left star extend, not hind legs but the constellation of Andromeda, a fascinating constellation in its own right.
