Welcome to SkyEye, your guide to this month's celestial events.
Date | 45° N | 30° S | Event | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Mon | ||||
2 | Tue | ||||
3 | Wed | ||||
4 | Thu | ||||
5 | Fri | Moon at apogee | |||
Moon occults Jupiter: visible from southernmost points of Australia from about 20:45 UT. | |||||
6 | Sat | ||||
7 | Sun | ||||
8 | Mon | The Last Quarter Moon should not spoil viewing of the Draconids (theoretical peak activity: possibly from 11:15 UT until 20:00 UT). | |||
9 | Tue | ||||
10 | Wed | ||||
11 | Thu | ||||
12 | Fri | ||||
13 | Sat | ||||
14 | Sun | ||||
15 | Mon | New Moon | |||
16 | Tue | ||||
17 | Wed | Moon at perigee | |||
Moon occults Mercury: visible from western Alaska from about 02:00 UT. | |||||
18 | Thu | ||||
19 | Fri | ||||
20 | Sat | ||||
21 | Sun | The waxing crescent Moon favours the Orionids this year (theoretical peak activity: variable but a submaximum is also possible on 17/18 October). | |||
22 | Mon | First Quarter Moon | |||
23 | Tue | ||||
24 | Wed | ||||
25 | Thu | Saturn at conjunction | |||
26 | Fri | Mercury at greatest elongation east | |||
27 | Sat | ||||
28 | Sun | ||||
29 | Mon | Full Moon | |||
30 | Tue | ||||
31 | Wed |
November brings two eclipses, a total solar eclipse on the 13th and a dim penumbral lunar eclipse 15 days later.
The fascinatingly variable Leonids meteor shower will not be washed out by moonlight this year.
The word planet is derived from the Greek word for 'wanderer'. Unlike the background stars, planets seem to move around the sky, keeping mostly to a narrow track called the ecliptic, the path of the Sun across the stars. Dwarf planets and small solar-system bodies including comets, are not so constrained, often moving far above or below the ecliptic.
Constellations are patterns of stars in the sky. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) recognises 88 different constellations. The brightest stars as seen from the Earth are easy to spot but do you know their proper names? With a set of binoculars you can look for fainter objects such as nebulae and galaxies or some of the closest stars to the Sun.
Descriptions of the sky for observers in both the northern and southern hemispheres are available for the following times this month. Subtract one hour from your local time if summer (daylight savings) time is in effect.
Local Time | Northern Hemisphere | Southern Hemisphere |
---|---|---|
1730 hours (1830 hours summer time) | 45° N | 30° S |
1930 hours (2030 hours summer time) | 45° N | 30° S |
2130 hours (2230 hours summer time) | 45° N | 30° S |
2330 hours (0030 hours summer time) | 45° N | 30° S |
0130 hours (0230 hours summer time) | 45° N | 30° S |
0330 hours (0430 hours summer time) | 45° N | 30° S |
0530 hours (0630 hours summer time) | 45° N | 30° S |
Much of this information can be found in this month's issue of your favourite amateur astronomy magazine available in your local bookshop. Another excellent source is the current edition of the Astronomical Calendar by Guy Ottewell and published by the Universal Workshop.
The SkyEye banner features the supernova remnant known as the Crab Nebula. Six light years wide and 6500 light years distant, this expanding nebula is the shattered remains of a star that blew up nearly a thousand years ago. At its heart beats a pulsar, a neutron star which spins at the incredible rate of 30 times per second. The supernova explosion which produced this object was observed in 1054 in China, Japan and Arabia. It was also seen in North America by the Anasazi people who lived in what is now New Mexico and who depicted it in a petroglpyh. This image is a composite assembled from 24 individual exposures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in October 1999, January 2000 and December 2000, and is courtesy of NASA, ESA, Jeff Hester and Allison Loll (Arizona State University). The colours represent different elements which were expelled during the explosion: neutral oxygen (blue), doubly-ionised oxygen (red) and singly-ionised sulphur (green). These elements will find their way into the next generation of stars and planets (and extra-terrestrial life?).