<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Let us check and see if we will be getting our traditional (and spooky)\u00a0Full Moon\u00a0for Halloween this year. \u00a0Rats! \u00a0As Maxwell Smart used to say on\u00a0Get Smart!, \u201cMissed it by that much.\u201d \u00a0The Full Moon on October 28 means it will still be bright on All Hallow\u2019s Eve, so you still have a chance of catching that elusive \u2018witch riding a broom silhouetted against a (nearly) full Moon\u2019 many favor as their holiday decorations. \u00a0The Lunar Cycle for October will feature an\u00a0Annular Solar Eclipse\u00a0that will coincide with the Oct 14\u00a0New Moon\u00a0with those living in the path from Oregon to the New Mexico\/Texas border having the best view. \u00a0During an Annular Solar Eclipse, the Moon is too far from the Earth to completely obscure the disk of the Sun. \u00a0What is seen is a \u2018ring\u2019 or \u2018annulus\u2019 of sunlight during totality. \u00a0As with a Total Eclipse, areas outside of the path of totality will see part of the Sun\u2019s disk in shadow. \u00a0The Great Lakes region will see between a 30 and 40 percent occultation of the\u00a0Sun. \u00a0Caution: \u00a0do NOT look directly at the eclipsed Sun unless you have approved viewing lenses or filters or you will do permanent damage to the retina of your eyes. \u00a0Unlike other tissue, retinal tissue does NOT regenerate.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Last Quarter Moon\u00a0before the New Moon is slated for Oct 6 with the\u00a0First Quarter\u00a0falling on Oct 21. \u00a0The first thin sliver of a\u00a0Young Crescent Moon\u00a0should be visible low in the western sky 40 minutes after sunset on Oct-17. \u00a0The growing Crescent Moon will rise higher in the SW sky one hour after sunset – look for it in the middle of The\u00a0Teapot Asterism\u00a0in\u00a0Sagittarius, the Archer\u00a0on October 20.<\/p>\n
How about the morning planets in October? \u00a0Venus\u00a0will reach its greatest elongation on October 23rd when it will be 46 degrees west of the Sun. \u00a0At the beginning of the month, it will be a crescent covering 37 percent of the planet, increasing to a gibbous phase (more than half but less than full) of 54 percent. \u00a0Venus\u2019s angular size will shrink during the month but it will still present a dazzling object (-4.8 magnitude)in the eastern sky two hours before sunrise.<\/p>\n
Jupiter\u00a0will be shining at magnitude -2.9 in the western sky throughout the month. \u00a0While it will not be quite as bright as Venus in the eastern sky, it will be easy to spot. \u00a0You can watch Jupiter sink closer to the horizon as the month passes and it approaches opposition early in November. \u00a0On Sunday, Oct 29, one can use the Moon as a guide to find faint Uranus slightly below and to the Moon\u2019s right (left and slightly below Jupiter). \u00a0At a faint 5.7 magnitude (remember, the lower the number, the brighter the object), binoculars may be needed to see Uranus through the glow of the nearby Moon. \u00a0Without the Moon to aide you, look for Uranus halfway between the\u00a0Pleiades Star Cluster (in Taurus the Bull) and Jupiter.<\/p>\n
With its brighter cousin occupying the morning sky,\u00a0Saturn\u00a0will be the second the big dog in the night sky. \u00a0Why? \u00a0Because Jupiter will actually rise in the east two hours after sunset. \u00a0It will traverse the nigh sky to become the early morning object low in the western sky described above. \u00a0Look for Saturn in the SE sky after dusk and follow it among the stars of\u00a0Aquarius – the Water Bearer\u00a0as they cross the night sky. \u00a0Faint\u00a0Neptune\u00a0(7.7 magnitude) will definitely need a small scope to find to the left of Saturn in the constellation of\u00a0Pisces, the Fish.<\/p>\n
Saturn is our object of interest for our historical shout-out in this AstroCal. \u00a0In 1659, Christiaan Huygens realized that the \u2018appendages\u2019 (some called them \u2018ears\u2019) of Saturn are actually rings. \u00a0Huygens watched the appendages disappear in 1665 and reappear several years later. \u00a0He realized that the appendages were really flat rings that disappeared when viewed on edge. \u00a0(Historical information courtesy of John D. Fix at\u00a0Astronomy – Journey to the Cosmic Frontier).<\/p>\n
Compiled by Ken Raisanen of WOAS-FM – information provided by\u00a0Abrams Planetarium Sky Calendar, Michigan State University. \u00a0More information and subscription information can be found on their website at\u00a0http:\/\/abramsplanetarium.org\/<\/a>s <\/p>\n Top Piece Video: Any better time for BOC and\u00a0Harvest Moon<\/em> Live than October?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Let us check and see if we will be getting our traditional (and spooky)\u00a0Full Moon\u00a0for Halloween this year. \u00a0Rats! \u00a0As Maxwell Smart used to say on\u00a0Get Smart!, \u201cMissed it by that much.\u201d \u00a0The Full Moon on October 28 means it will still be bright on All Hallow\u2019s Eve, so you still have a […]<\/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-2953","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\/2953","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=2953"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2956,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2953\/revisions\/2956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}