{"id":2636,"date":"2022-09-18T22:07:03","date_gmt":"2022-09-18T22:07:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=2636"},"modified":"2022-09-18T22:10:42","modified_gmt":"2022-09-18T22:10:42","slug":"astrocal-october-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=2636","title":{"rendered":"AstroCal – October 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Let us start this month\u2019s AstroCal with a lesser known object visible in the evening sky one hour after sunset.\u00a0 The constellation it is found in is an easily recognized Sign of the Zodiac, <\/span>Pisces, the Fish<\/b>.\u00a0 Pisces forms a rather large \u2018V\u2019 shape that is tilted somewhat to the right.\u00a0 At the end of the lower section of the \u2018V\u2019 there is an <\/span>asterism<\/b> formed by the stars Gamma, Theta, Iota, Lambda, and Kappa Piscium.\u00a0 (Two notes:\u00a0 an asterism is a recognizable formation of stars (like the Big Dipper found in <\/span>Ursa Major, the Great Bear<\/b>) located within a larger constellation.\u00a0 Greek letters are used to rank the stars in any constellation by their brightness).\u00a0 In this case, the asterism located in Pisces is known as <\/span>The Circlet of Pisces<\/b> and it should be easily visible just above <\/span>Jupiter <\/b>an hour after sunset in the ESE.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Speaking of evening planets, <\/span>Jupiter<\/b> is the star of the show all night long, shining at a brilliant -2.9 to -2.8 this month.\u00a0 Starting an hour after sunset, look for this <\/span>Gas Giant<\/b> well above the horizon between E and ESE.\u00a0 On Oct 8, it will be directly above the <\/span>Full Moon<\/b>.\u00a0 Jupiter will move 3.3 degrees against the background of stars this month (known as<\/span> retrograde motion,<\/b><\/p>\n

caused by the Earth catching up to and passing the orbit of the more distant Jupiter.\u00a0 Don\u2019t forget to view the planet with binoculars or a small spotting scope.\u00a0 Even with that level of magnification, it is possible to see the four largest Jovian moons (the so-called <\/span>Galilean Moons<\/b> named after Galileo, the first to see them with one of the first telescopes).\u00a0 <\/span>Saturn <\/b>will be less bright at +0.5 to +0.6 during the month.\u00a0 On Oct 1, Saturn will be located in <\/span>Capricornus, the Sea Goat, <\/b>44 degrees (a closed \u2018fist\u2019held at arm\u2019s length equals about ten degrees, so measure about four fists) above and to the right of Jupiter.\u00a0 This distance will be reduced to 41 degrees by Oct 31.\u00a0 Both planets will be visible all night long making for prime viewing all month.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Jupiter\u2019s positioning means it can also be seen as a morning planet in October.\u00a0 Look for it in the WSW two hours before sunrise between October 8 and 11.\u00a0 With the Full Moon just below Jupiter on Oct 8, one may be able to spot <\/span>Neptune<\/b> just to the right of the Moon.\u00a0 With a magnitude of just +7.8, this would be a great observing challenge for the month.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Mercury <\/b>reappears early in the month.\u00a0 Look for it in the morning sky close to the eastern horizon as it brightens quickly from +1.2 to +0.2 between October 1& 4.\u00a0 Mercury will continue to climb higher until it reaches its greatest elongation (18 degrees from the Sun) and a magnitude of -0.5.\u00a0 <\/span>Mars<\/b> will shine at magnitude -0.6 to -1.2 high in the SW quadrant during October. Look for the <\/span>Gibbous Moon <\/b>to be just above the<\/span> Red Planet<\/b> on Oct 15.\u00a0 On Oct 30, Mars will begin a 74 day period of retrograde motion – visit the Sky Calendar Extra Content Page at the Abrams Planetarium site listed below to see a chart depicting this path.\u00a0 Mars viewing will continue to improve into December when it will reach a brilliant -1.9 magnitude as it nears opposition.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The month will begin with the <\/span>First Quarter Moon<\/b> on Oct 2, followed by the Oct 8 <\/span>Full Moon, <\/b>the <\/span>Last Quarter Moon <\/b>on Oct 17, and the <\/span>New Moon <\/b>on October 25.\u00a0 You can break out the binoculars on October 26 and see the young 3 percent crescent Moon 3 degrees above the horizon, 30 degrees S of W.\u00a0 Again, we won\u2019t get to see a Full Halloween Moon on October 31, but it will at least be a First Quarter Oct 31-Nov 1.\u00a0 Hey, that is better than nothing, right?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Compiled by Ken Raisanen of WOAS-FM – information provided by <\/span>Abrams Planetarium Sky Calendar<\/span><\/i>, Michigan State University.\u00a0 More information and subscription information can be found on their website at <\/span>http:\/\/abramsplanetarium.org\/<\/span><\/a>skycalendar\/ or on Twitter at <\/span>http:\/\/twitter.com\/AbramsSkyNotes<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 Yearly subscriptions cost $12 and can be started anytime. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Top Piece Video:\u00a0 REM with Man On The Moon –<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Let us start this month\u2019s AstroCal with a lesser known object visible in the evening sky one hour after sunset.\u00a0 The constellation it is found in is an easily recognized Sign of the Zodiac, Pisces, the Fish.\u00a0 Pisces forms a rather large \u2018V\u2019 shape that is tilted somewhat to the right.\u00a0 At the end […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,8,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-from-the-vaults","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2636"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2639,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2636\/revisions\/2639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}