Astroblog: October 2020

The evening sky facing north-west in Adelaide on Thursday November 19 at 21:43 ACDST, 90 minutes after sunset. The crescent Moon forms a triangle with Jupiter and Saturn. (similar views will be seen Australia wide at the equivalent local time, 90 minutes after sunset).

The November edition of Southern Skywatch is now up.

In November three bright planets can be seen for most of the evening Jupiter, Saturn and Mars. November 1; Apogee (mini) Full Moon.

November 13; crescent Moon close to Venus. November 3; Venus and bright Star Regulus almost on top of each other. November 14; Mercury and crescent Moon close deep in twilight. November 14; Moon at perigee. November 15; bright star Spica close to Venus. Morning November 18; Leonid meteor shower peaks. November 19; The crescent Moon, Jupiter and Saturn form a triangle in the evening sky. November 20; Jupiter, Saturn and waxing Moon form a line in the evening sky. November 25-26; Waxing Moon near to Mars. November 27; Moon at Apogee. November 30; Blue Moon in all states but WA, penumbral lunar eclipse.

Mercury is difficult to see low in the morning twilight.

Venus is in Virgo and is close to the crescent Moon on the 13th.

Mars is close to the Moon on the 25th and 26th.

Jupiter is prominent in early the evening sky and comes closer to Saturn over the Month. On the 19th Jupiter, the Moon and Saturn form a triangle in the evening sky. On the 20th the lineup is Jupiter, Saturn and the Moon.

Saturn is also prominent in early the evening sky near Jupiter. On the 19th Jupiter, the Moon and Saturn form a triangle in the evening sky. On the 20th the lineup is Jupiter, Saturn and the Moon.

November 14; Moon at perigee. November 27; Moon at Apogee. November 30, "Blue Moon" and penumbral eclipse.

Labels: southern skywatch

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 6:13 pm 0 comments


Full Moon November 1 02:00 (AEDST), apogee -20h. Minimum libration +27h	Full Moon April 08 12:35, perigee April 08 + 8h

The full Moon on the evening of Saturday October 31 (WA)/ early morning November 1 (rest of Australia) is a apogee full Moon, that is a full Moon that occurs when furthest from the Earth. A "mini Moon if you will.

This is in contrast to the Perigee "super" Full Moon April 08. If you have a good memory you will see that this full Moon is smaller than the April one (although not by much to the unaided eye, but it will be clear in binoculars and telescopes).

That doesn't mean you shouldn't try though to see the difference with the unaided eye. Daniel Fischer has been able to see the difference, you can read his account and viewing tips here
http://earthsky.org/space/can-you-discern-supermoons-large-size-with-the-eye-an-observer-says-yes

Photographing them can be more rewarding. You can see images of perigee Moon and apogee Moon pairs from 21 Jan 2019 here and 10 August 2014 here.Tips for photographing them are here.

Apogee actually occurs at 5:17 ACDST on the 31st. For WA, where Full Moon occurs on the 31st at 23:00 AWST their "mini Moon" occurs at the same time as the blue moon (the second full Moon in a month). Every one else has to wait until the end of November for their blue Moon (time zones).

Although the Moon will not be technically full until late evening 31st/early morning 1st, you could get up at 1 am (AWST) or 4 am AEDST and image the moon when it is at its smallest, 29'35.17", but by the time of the official full Moon it is still only 29'43/93" compared to the 33'52.78" of the March 8th perigee Moon.

Morning sky as seen from Adelaide facing north at 1:19 am ACDST on November, elsewhere in Australia will see similar views at the equivalent local time.

Labels: apogee, astrophotography, Moon

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 5:54 pm 0 comments

The Full Moon is Sunday November 1 (Saturday October 31 in WA), this is an apogee (mini) Moon and a Blue Moon in WA. The bright planets Venus and Mars are visible in the early morning skies. Three bright planets are dominate the evening sky. Mars is past opposition but is still making the sky stunning along with Jupiter and Saturn. On the 29th and 30th the Moon is close to Mars.

The Full Moon is Sunday November 1 (Saturday October 31 in WA), this is an apogee (mini) Moon and a Blue Moon in WA .

Evening sky at 21:18 ACDST (90 minutes after sunset) on Saturday, October 31 facing west as seen from Adelaide. The pair of Jupiter and Saturn are above the north-west horizon.

The insets show the telescopic views of Jupiter and Saturn at the same magnification at this time.

Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time (90 minutes after sunset), click to embiggen.

Whole sky at 21:18 ACDST (90 minutes after sunset), on Saturday, October 31 as seen from Adelaide.

Three bright planets are visible stretching west to east. Jupiter, Saturn and Mars. The Moon leaves the lineup later this week.

Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time (90 minutes after sunset). click to embiggen.

Evening sky at 21:15 ACDST on Thursday, October 29 facing east as seen from Adelaide. Mars is above the north-eastern horizon just below the Moon. Mars is past opposition, but is still excellent. more details here.

The variable start Mira is still visible to the unaided eye but may b difficult to see with the waxing moonlight.

The inset shows the telescopic view of Mars at this time. Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time, click to embiggen.

Morning sky on Saturday, October 31 showing the north-eastern sky as seen from Adelaide at 5:16 am ACDST (60 minutes before sunrise). Venus is getting lower to the horizon.

The inset is the telescopic view of Venus at this time.

Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time (60 minutes before sunrise), click to embiggen.

Morning sky as seen from Adelaide facing north at 1:19 am ACDST on November, elsewhere in Australia will see similar views at the equivalent local time.

The is a apogee full Moon, that is a full Moon that occurs when furthest from the Earth. A "mini Moon if you will.

This is in contrast to the Perigee "super" Full Moon April 08. If you have a good memory you will see that this full Moon is smaller than the April one (although not by much to the unaided eye, but it will be clear in binoculars and telescopes).

Apogee actually occurs at 5:17 ACDST on the 31st. For WA, where Full Moon occurs on the 31st at 23:00 AWST their "mini Moon" occurs at the same time as the blue moon (the second full Moon in a month). Every one else has to wait until the end of November for their blue Moon.

This week three bright planets, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars can be seen at astronomical twilight, 90 minutes after sunset. Mars reasonably high above the horizon and bright red Mars is unmistakable. This week the waxing Moon leaves the line-up after the weekend

Mercury is lost in the twilight..

Venus is still readily visible low above the horizon in the morning.

Mars is visible in the morning sky to the north-west, It is now readily visible in the evening sky. Mars is close to the variable star Mira, which is still reasonably bright. Mars was at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on October the 14th, but is still worthwhile observing. Observing details and more at the Mars Opposition site.

Jupiter can be readily seen in the early evening sky. Jupiter and Saturn start around a hand-span apart at the beginning of the week but slowly draw closer. The pair are prominent in the evening skies along with Mars. Jupiter is setting around 1:30 am local time.

Saturn too is visible in the early evening skies and is also still an excellent sight.

Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm AEST, Western sky at 10 pm AEST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.

Star Map via Virtual sky. Use your mouse to scroll around and press 8 when your pointer is in the map to set to the current time.

Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.

Here is the near-real time satellite view of the clouds (day and night) http://satview.bom.gov.au/

Labels: weekly sky

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 11:06 pm 0 comments

The First Quarter Moon is Friday October 23. The bright planets Venus and Mars are visible in the early morning skies. Three bright planets are dominate the evening sky. Mars is past opposition but is still making the sky stunning along with Jupiter and Saturn. On the 22nd and 23rd The Moon forms a line with Jupiter and Saturn and on the 29th it is close to Mars. Orionid Meteor shower morning Thursday 22 to Saturday 24th.

The First Quarter Moon is Friday October 23.

Evening sky at 21:06 ACDST (90 minutes after sunset) on Thursday, October 22 facing west as seen from Adelaide. The pair of Jupiter and Saturn are above the north-west horizon forming a line with the Moon.

The insets show the telescopic views of Jupiter and Saturn at the same magnification at this time.

Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time (90 minutes after sunset), click to embiggen.

Whole sky at 21:09 ACDST (90 minutes after sunset), on Saturday, October 24 as seen from Adelaide.

Three bright planets are visible stretching west to east. Jupiter, Saturn and Mars. The Moon joins the lineup this week.

Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time (90 minutes after sunset). click to embiggen.

Evening sky at 21:15 ACDST on Thursday, October 29 facing east as seen from Adelaide. Mars is above the north-eastern horizon just below the Moon. Mars is past opposition, but is still excellent. more details here.

The variable start Mira is still visible to the unaided eye but may b difficult to see with the waxing moonlight.

The inset shows the telescopic view of Mars at this time. Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time, click to embiggen.

Morning sky on Saturday, October 24 showing the north-eastern sky as seen from Adelaide at 5:25 am ACDST (60 minutes before sunrise). Venus is getting lower to the horizon.

The inset is the telescopic view of Venus at this time.

Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time (60 minutes before sunrise), click to embiggen.

Morning sky as seen from Adelaide facing north-east at 4:30 am ACDST on 22 October, the Orionid radiant is indicated with a starburst. Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at an equivalent local time. Click to embiggen.

The Orionids are a worthwhile shower that somewhat favours the Southern Hemisphere,best seen between 2-5 am, the radiant, the point where meteors appear to originate from, being just under Betelgeuse, the bright red star in Orion.

If you draw an imaginary line between Procyon and Aldebaran, then drop another imaginary line from Betelgeuse to the horizon, the radiant is just next to the intersection of those two lines.

The Orionids are the debris from Halley's comet. The Orionids maximum is on October 22 UT (October 23 Australian time). but good rates are seen on the 22nd. For more details and observing hints see my Orionid page.

This week three bright planets, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars can be seen at astronomical twilight, 90 minutes after sunset. Mars will be low on the horizon but bright red Mars is unmistakable. This week the waxing Moon joins the line-up.

Mercury is lost in the twilight..

Venus is still readily visible low above the horizon in the morning.

Mars is visible in the morning sky to the west, It is now readily visible in the evening sky. Mars is close to the variable star Mira, which is still reasonably bright. Mars was at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on the 14th, but is still worthwhile observing. Observing details and more at the Mars Opposition site.

Jupiter can be readily seen in the early evening sky. Jupiter and Saturn start around a hand-span apart at the beginning of the week but slowly draw closer. The pair are prominent in the evening skies along with Mars. Jupiter is setting around 1:30 am local time.

Saturn too is visible in the early evening skies and is also still an excellent sight.

Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm AEST, Western sky at 10 pm AEST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.

Star Map via Virtual sky. Use your mouse to scroll around and press 8 when your pointer is in the map to set to the current time.

Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.

Here is the near-real time satellite view of the clouds (day and night) http://satview.bom.gov.au/

Labels: weekly sky

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 8:57 pm 1 comments

Morning sky as seen from Adelaide facing north-east at 4:30 am ACDST on 22 October, the Orionid radiant is indicated with a starburst. Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at an equivalent local time. Click to embiggen.

The Orionids are a worthwhile shower that somewhat favours the Southern Hemisphere,best seen between 2-5 am, the radiant, the point where meteors appear to originate from, being just under Betelgeuse, the bright red star in Orion.

If you draw an imaginary line between Procyon and Aldebaran, then drop another imaginary line from Betelgeuse to the horizon, the radiant is just next to the intersection of those two lines.

The Orionids are the debris from Halley's comet. The Orionids maximum is on October 21 UT (October 22 Australian time).

This year the waxing Moon sets before the radiant rises significantly so won't interfere with the shower.

The best viewing is the morning of the 22nd, when between 3-5 am under dark skies you should see about a meteor every 3-4 minutes, although reasonable rates will be seen the mornings before and after (see table below).

You can find out the predicted rates for your location using the NASA meteor flux estimator (use 8 Orionids and make sure you set the dates to 21-22 October 2020).

Unfortunately, both Chrome and Firefox have changed their security settings to prevent plugins from running, and the flux estimator only runs under Internet Explorer now.
You can follow the progress of the shower at the IMO Orionids live page.

If you decide to get up, allow at least 5 minutes for your eyes to adjust, and be patient, it may be several minutes before you are rewarded with you first meteor, then a couple will come along in quick succession.

Choose a viewing spot where you can see a large swathe of sky without trees or buildings getting in the way, or with street-lights getting in your eyes. The darker the spot the better (but do be sensible, don't choose a spot in an unsalubrious park for example). Look to the north-east, and the distinctive red star Betelgeuse below the saucepan will be easy to spot. The meteors should originate just below here. However, let your eyes roam a bit to pick up meteors that begin their "burn" a fair distance from the radiant.

A lawn chair or something similar will make your observing comfortable (or a picnic rug spread on the ground and a nice pillow), and having a Thermos of hot coffee, tea or chocolate to swig while watching will increase your comfort. (Here's some hints on dark adaption of your eyes so you can see meteors better).

The following table show the predicted peak rates at around 5 am local time on the mornings of the 21st, 22nd and 23rd of October for a number of cities under dark sky conditions (rates under suburban or city light conditions will be lower). Rates will be similar at the same latitude as these cities, and rates will be intermediate at spots between these cities (eg Sydney will be a roughly the Same as Perth).

Town	Morning October 21	Morning October 22	Morning October 23
Adelaide	12 meteors/hr	16 meteors/hr	12 meteors/hr
Brisbane	13 meteors/hr	18 meteors/hr	14 meteors/hr
Darwin	18 meteors/hr	22 meteors/hr	17 meteors/hr
Perth	13 meteors/hr	17 meteors/hr	13 meteors/hr
Melbourne	11 meteors/hr	14 meteors/hr	11 meteors/hr

Here is the near-real time satellite view of the clouds http://satview.bom.gov.au/
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.

Labels: Meteors, Orionids, unaided eye

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 8:41 pm 1 comments

Evening sky at 21:00 ACDST on Wednesday, October 14 facing east as seen from Adelaide. Mars is above the eastern horizon just above the Moon. Mars is at opposition, the best until 2033. more details here.

The variable start Mira is still visible to the unaided eye.

The inset shows the telescopic view of Mars at this time. Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time, click to embiggen.

Last night (Wednesday 14 October), was the opposition of Mars. I was too busy writing a lectureto get my scope out, so I had to content my self with briefly viewing the glowing red planet rising above the trees.Tonight it is raining of course.

But don't worry, Mars will be bright for some time, and a worthwhile telescopic object in even small telescopes for a couple of weeks. For more details and observing hints, see my Opposition of Mars page.

Comparison of Mars on the 14th of October (left) and the 22 nd (right). Mars is getting smaller over this time, but is still a worthwhile telescopic object.Of course small and modest telescopes will see something more like the inset above.

Labels: binocular, Mars, Opposition, telescope, unaided eye

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 9:29 pm 0 comments

The New Moon is Saturday October 17. The bright planets Venus and Mars are visible in the early morning skies. Four bright planets are (just) visible in evening sky. Mars is past opposition but is still making the sky stunning along with Jupiter and Saturn. Mercury is lowering in the evening twilight and is visited by the Moon on the 18th. Orionid Meteor shower morning Thursday 22.

The New Moon is Saturday October 17. The Moon is at perigee, when it is closest to the Earth, on the 17th.

Evening sky at 20:30 ACDST (60 minutes after sunset) on Sunday, October 18 facing west as seen from Adelaide. Mercury is low seen above the Western horizon in the late twilight. The thin crescent Moon is not far from Mercury.

Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time (60 minutes after sunset), click to embiggen.

Whole sky at 20:29 ACDST (60 minutes after sunset), on Saturday, October 17 as seen from Adelaide.

Four bright planets are visible stretching west to east. Mercury Jupiter, Saturn and Mars. The insets show the telescopic views of Jupiter and Saturn at the same magnification at 21:35when Callisto emerges from behind Jupiter.

Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time (60 minutes after sunset). click to embiggen.

Evening sky at 21:00 ACDST on Saturday, October 17 facing east as seen from Adelaide. Mars is above the eastern horizon. Mars was at opposition last week, but is still excellent. more details here.

The variable start Mira is still visible to the unaided eye.

The inset shows the telescopic view of Mars at this time. Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time, click to embiggen.

Morning sky on Saturday, October 17 showing the north-eastern sky as seen from Adelaide at 5:43 am ACDST (60 minutes before sunrise). Venus is getting lower to the horizon.

The inset is the telescopic view of Venus at this time.

Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time (60 minutes before sunrise), click to embiggen.

Morning sky as seen from Adelaide facing north-east at 4:30 am ACDST on 22 October, the Orionid radiant is indicated with a starburst. Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at an equivalent local time. Click to embiggen.

The Orionids are a worthwhile shower that somewhat favours the Southern Hemisphere,best seen between 2-5 am, the radiant, the point where meteors appear to originate from, being just under Betelgeuse, the bright red star in Orion.

If you draw an imaginary line between Procyon and Aldebaran, then drop another imaginary line from Betelgeuse to the horizon, the radiant is just next to the intersection of those two lines.

The Orionids are the debris from Halley's comet. The Orionids maximum is on October 22 UT (October 23 Australian time). but good rates are seen on the 22nd.

This week four bright planets, Mercury , Jupiter, Saturn and Mars can be (just) seen at nautical twilight, 60 minutes after sunset. Mercury and Mars will be low on the horizon but bright red mars is unmistakable. This is the last week to see all 4 planets easily.

Mercury is lowering in the evening twilight and is close to the thin crescent Moon on the 18th..

Venus is still readily visible low above the horizon in the morning.

Mars is visible in the morning sky to the west, It is now readily visible in the late evening sky. Mars is close to the variable star Mira, which is still reasonably bright. Mars was at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on the 14th, but is still worthwhile observing. Observing details and more at the Mars Opposition site.

Jupiter can be readily seen in the early evening sky. Jupiter and Saturn stay around a hand-span apart during the week and the pair are prominent in the evening skies along with Mars.

Saturn too is visible in the early evening skies and is also still an excellent sight.

Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm AEST, Western sky at 10 pm AEST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.

Star Map via Virtual sky. Use your mouse to scroll around and press 8 when your pointer is in the map to set to the current time.

Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.

Here is the near-real time satellite view of the clouds (day and night) http://satview.bom.gov.au/

Labels: weekly sky

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 10:26 pm 0 comments