Category: Sky Events
Sky events
The Moon and Venus
For those awake to see the early dawn a nice pairing of a brilliant Venus and a thin crescent Moon will grace the eastern sky. A 11% illuminated Moon will be about 6° from Venus. The pair will rise together about 03:32HST tomorrow morning, October 12th, and be over 35° above the horizon at sunrise.
Saturn Lost in the Sunset
Over the coming week we will lose Saturn to the Sun’s glare as it slides lower into the sunset. Today the planet is only 13° from the Sun, by the 13th the separation will have diminished to about 10°.
Saturn will pass through superior conjunction on October 24th to re-appear in the dawn sky during early November.
The Moon and Jupiter
Tonight will see the Moon just under 5° from Jupiter. The planet will rise about 21:49HST, to shine brightly for the remainder of the night.
Mercury and Saturn
As Mercury rises further from the Sun each day, Saturn is currently sliding into the sunset heading for superior conjunction. The two will pass each other on October 3rd through October 6th. The pair will be closest on October 4th, at a bit over 3° separation. The 5th will see the two quite close at about 3.5° separation. There will be about a magnitude difference in brightness between the two, with Mercury at -0.27 magnitude and Saturn at 0.69 magnitude. At about 15° above the horizon at sunset this will make for a nice pairing in the dusk.
Venus and Regulus
This morning finds Venus just 2° from the bright star Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo. Tomorrow the pair will be much closer, about 42′. On the morning of October 3rd the separation will be much closer, a mere 29′. Despite its being among the brighter stars in the sky, Regulus is no match for Venus. The star’s 1.3 magnitude is vastly dimmer than the planet at -4.1 magnitude.
Full Moon
Uranus at Opposition
Comet C/2012 S1 ISON
A new comet discovered earlier this week has caught the attention of the astronomy community. Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) was discovered Tuesday by a telescope affiliated with ISON, the International Scientific Optical Observation Network. This is a network of mid-sized telescopes dedicated to surveillance of the near earth region of our solar system.
The reason this comet is intriguing is a combination of a large estimated size and an orbit that appears to provide both a close approach to the Sun and favorable viewing from the Earth.
The comet will approach the sun as close as 0.012 AU on November 28th, 2013, quite close indeed. The comet will also approach Earth as close as 0.4 AU (60 million kilometers or 37 million miles) on December 26th, 2013. As a result this comet could achieve a magnitude well into the negative numbers, brighter than most objects in the sky except the Sun or Moon.
This comet is in addition to comet C/2011 L4 (PanSTARRS), expected to be an unaided eye comet during the spring of 2013. If we get lucky 2013 will be a great year for comets.
As I have cautioned in the past, comet predictions are to be taken with a good amount of skepticism. This could be a spectacular comet, or this could be a mediocre comet, we will just have to wait and see. In the meantime pay attention to the light curve as it nears the Sun. As my friend David Levy observed… “Comets are like cats; they have tails, and they do precisely what they want.”
A Line of Planets in the Sunset
As Mercury rises clear of the Sun’s glare it joins Mars and Saturn in the sunset sky. Tonight the three will form a nice line of planets. Mercury will still be quite low, about 12° from the Sun at sunset. Saturn is next in the line at 19° elevation at sunset. Mars will be over 30° high at sunset. As usual Mars and Saturn are about the same brightness, Mars at 1.2 magnitude, Saturn at 0.72. Mercury will be the brightest at -0.6 magnitude, which will aid in seeing the planets lower in the sunset.
The three will dance in the sunset over the coming weeks with Saturn and Mercury joining up for a close set around October 4th.