Title: October Skywatch Highlights
Location: Hawaiian Islands
Date / Time: October 2009
Comments: Scorpius, the giant Scorpion is setting by 11:00 PM, just as Orion the Hunter & his faithful dogs, Canis Major & Minor, rise. Fall season is upon us! As the Sun sets, look for brilliant JUPITER high in the sky nearly due South. The gas giant blazes in Eastern Capricornus, & shines far brighter than any other object in this dim region of the sky. With a small telescope or good binoculars, you can view Jupiter's 4 bright Galilean moons. Galileo first saw them nearly 400 years ago with a 1.5-inch telescope of lower quality than any available today. Jupiter's "neighbors" Uranus & Neptune both present excellent targets thru binoculars & telescopes throughout October. NEPTUNE appears in Capricornus while URANUS is crossing from Pisces into Aquarius around mid-month. The remaining four planets are viewable in the pre-dawn, morning sky. Mercury, Venus & Saturn appear near one another & low in morning twilight. MARS rises just after midnight, along with the background stars of Gemini. Normally the Twins host two 1st magnitude stars, brothers Castor & Pollux, but Mars appears as a 3rd bright object (perhaps a Gemini triplet?). At mag. 0.8, the ruddy Red Planet outshines the twin stars, & offers a nice color contrast to nearly pure white Castor & yellow-orange Pollux. Mars crosses into Cancer the Crab in mid-October & approaches the Beehive star cluster (M44) by month's end. Stunning VENUS rises from the Northeast, like a brilliant beacon, around 4:45 AM, & easily outshines all other points of light in the sky. Our closest planetary "neighbor" is so bright in fact, (magnitude minus -3.9), that radio stations often receive calls reporting it as a UFO! MERCURY rises 45 minutes after Venus (on Oct. 1st). The tiny innermost planet brightens each day throughout the month. When Mercury reaches western elongation on Oct. 5/6 (it's greatest angular distance from the Sun), it gleams at magnitude minus -0.6. It's a challenge to view SATURN in the predawn sky at the beginning of October, when it rises less than an hour before sunrise. On each successive morning tho', Saturn rises earlier & climbs higher into the sky, closing the gap with Venus. On Oct. 13th, Saturn & Venus appear a single Moon-width apart, with Mercury 6 degrees below the pair. On the morning of Oct. 16th, a crescent Moon lies well to the right of the planet trio. By the end of the month, Saturn rises 3 hours before the Sun, climbs to 20 degrees high prior to twilight, & provides fabulous views through a telescope. While Saturn's glorious rings have been edge-on to Earth in recent months, the tilt of the ring system is increasing rapidly, and soon we will be able to view the Ringed Planet in all it's splendor. For an October sky map, visit Bishop Museum Planetarium www.bishopmuseum.org/planetarium (bishopmuseum.org).

Maintained by Roz Reiner - Kauai, Hawaii

 

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