Outside my window, there is a calico cat lounging on Angler Mountain. Asleep, the feline’s brilliant golds, chocolate browns, hints of rust, and tans, of colored patches spread out resting upon an evergreen forest. The winds rise, and our cat’s fur shimmers in the mid-day Sun. This mouser’s colors change by the day; and sometimes by the hour. Disappointingly soon, my tabby in its multicolored autumnal fur will awake and saunter off leaving stark skeletons of Aspens behind. That’s autumn in Colorado’s high country. If we’re lucky, the season lasts, oh, say about 10-days. Snow is predicted for next week.
For us stargazers, October continues the transition between the summer night sky and the winter night sky. We can still view summer constellations, despite the need to wear sweaters, coats, hats, and gloves. As the summer constellation of Scorpius sets, the winter constellation Orion rises, just as Zeus deemed. With this crispy chill, comes clarity. The stars twinkle a bit more and the planets are a bit brighter. Have a look for yourself. There are two meteor showers this month, a waning gibbous Moon and Jupiter meet for a sunrise conjunction, another Supermoon, and possibly a daytime comet. There’s much a foot for us stargazers in October. Take a gander below to learn more about what’s up above.
Draconid Meteor Shower, Peaking October 8th
Unlike the Orionids, you don’t have to get up after midnight and stay up all night to catch this show. Honestly, that’s the challenge of seeing most meteor showers at their optimal. It requires getting outside at ungodly hours of the night or in the extremely early morning hours of the new day. Not true for the Draconids which shower the night sky between October 6th - 10th.
The Draconids are that rare meteor shower that is best observed between sunset and midnight. It’s because the constellation Draco, the dragon, from where the meteors appear to originate, is highest in the evening sky. The best time is soon after dusk. Get outside away from artificial light if you can, give yourself 20-minutes to get your night vision. Look to the northwest horizon, about 30 to 40 degrees above the horizon. That’s three to four widths of your fist on top of one another, thumb up, starting with your fist’s pinkie finger on the horizon. The Draconids are not predicted to be exceptional this year, around 10 per hour, but the angle at which the debris hits our atmosphere is conducive for longer streamer type shooting stars. Make a plan to get outside after sunset when the Draconids peak on their 8th and catch the dragon’s flames flashing across the night sky.
A Daytime Comet (We hope), October 13th – 18th
No joke. If all the stars align, (metaphorically speaking) this comet could be visible during the daylight hours. This will be a big deal. During the last 300-years, only nine comets have been visible during daylight. It is still sketchy and uncertain if we’ll see it during daytime, however. That said, between the 12th and the 18th of October say “hola” and then “adios” to comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) in the early evening.
Get outside and look for comet C/2023 A3 after sunset starting on the 13th as it couldn’t be easier to find it when you have the goddess of love to point the way. That night, get to a location where you have a clear view of the southwest – west horizon shortly after sunset. You will see Venus 20 degrees above the horizon, bright and radiant, and true to her nature, the only object in the evening; except for our comet. The distance between Venus and the horizon can be measured by two fists placed one on top of one another. From Venus, go four fist’s widths to the west (right), staying parallel to the horizon. Here is where you’ll find comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS).
You should be able to see it with your naked eye as it will be at a magnitude of 4.5. (You can see any celestial objects in the night sky with a magnitude lower than 6, and or any negative number magnitude. However, there’s a chance that it will become even brighter, due to a unique effect called forward-scattering. This is when the comet is briefly backlit, causing sunlight to reflect off its particles and toward Earth. This effect could boost the brightness to around magnitude -5. That would make it even brighter than Venus (-4.4) and visible in daylight. Now you know why it might be a “daytime comet.” Indeed, they are rare. C/2023 A3 was discovered independently by two different observatories. One located in South Africa on February 22nd, 2023, and the other in China, which first imaged the comet one month earlier. The comet’s official name of Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is a nod to these two observatories.
A Super Hunter Supermoon, October 17th
This month’s Full Hunter’s Moon occurs at 5:36am local time, and is the third of four Supermoons to occur in 2024. This month’s Supermoon at 221,938 miles away from Earth is the nearest of all of them. The average Earth / Moon separation distance is between 252,711 and 221,518 miles. Take another look at the image above to see the difference. Take heed, if you are a Mariner, you can expect high tide to be higher than normal. It may be surprising to learn that many, many Indigenous peoples around the world kept track of the seasons through their assignment of unique names and meanings for each month’s Full Moon. Each name is associated with the focus of living and survival during that month. October’s Hunter Moon denotes the time when tribes, mainly in North America, hunted and gathered meat for the long winter season ahead. Similar in reason as to why the September Full Moon is called the Harvest Moon.
Orionids Meteor Shower, Peak October 21st
The Orionid meteor shower is an annual show for us in the northern hemisphere. The show runs from October 2nd through November 7th. This year the shower will peak on the nights of Oct. 21st and 22nd, with 15 – 20 meteors anticipated per hour between midnight and dawn. That’s not a bad rate. Interestingly, the Orionids meteor shower is a product of debris shed during the historic passes by Earth of the famous Halley’s Comet. Want to see the Orionids? Find a nice dark-sky location and then around 10:25pm local time the constellation Orion will rise over the eastern horizon. Settle in, recline your chair backwards, and look straight up to the zenith of the night sky; that point directly overhead. There’s no rush to get outside if you just want to view the meteor shower since they really don’t fully start to streak until after midnight. A warm drink of whatever you fancy will be a good companion at that hour. Try to keep a wide angle view of the sky above you as meteors can come from any direction.
A Waning Moon and Jupiter In Conjunction, October 20th and 21st
A conjunction between celestial bodies is loosely defined as a moment when two or more objects occupy the same right ascension, or terrestrial longitude in the night sky. Moreover, when objects in conjunction make their closest approach to one another, this is called an “appulse.” The waning gibbous Moon will be 19-days old on the 20th / 21st at a magnitude of -12.5 and Jupiter at a magnitude of -2.6, together located in the constellation Taurus. Still the chief god of the divine pantheon, Jupiter, shines in strength and confidence below and slightly to the left (south) of the Moon. Viewing this conjunction is tailor made for the early riser in you. The pair will be visible starting around 9:44pm local time on the 20th, when they reach an altitude of 7 degrees above the north-eastern horizon. After that, the pair will then reach their highest point in the night sky at 4:18am at an altitude of 72 degrees above the southern horizon on the 21st. The pair will disappear when dawn twilight arrives, near 6:57am above the western horizon. Some say they see the Moon as a hot air balloon, and Jupiter as its swaying basket. Some see a winking cat eye. What do you see? Maybe have a sip of coffee first.
No Trick, Just a Triple Halloween Treat, October 30th and 31st
What would the month of October be without a reference to Halloween? It just wouldn’t be kosher. This Halloween, how about we skip the trick and have triple treats instead? Plus, I’m talking about the type of treats that won’t someday require a trip to the dentist.
If you look up to the night sky often enough, you begin to see geometric shapes all over the celestial dome – various shapes of triangles, rectangles, squares, diamonds, parallelograms, and line segments. It’s all about imaginary lines connecting “dots” of stars. Get up early on the morning of the 30th or the 31st and play a game of connect the dots with the stars Castor, and Pollux, and the red planet, Mars. The trio is easy to find in the south-southwest before dawn breaks the morning of the 31st. The two stars are the “heads” of the twins (Castor and Pollux) that define the constellation of Gemini. The twin stars are referenced by Babylonian astronomers. In Greek mythology, the two are seen in St. Elmo’s fire as their role is to protect sailors at sea. As Pollux was the son of Zeus and thus immortal, while Castor was the son of the King of Sparta, a mortal. When Castor died, Pollux begged his father Zeus to make Castor immortal. He acquiesced. He did so by binding them together in the heavens for eternity. It is fitting then that Castor and Pollux are quite close to one another, about one fist width apart. The planet Mars, even to the naked eye, is distinctly a red hue in color, and a fist’s width south south-east of Pollux in our line segment. Interestingly, the star Castor is a multiple star system, constituted by six individual stars. Hum, is it now, a sextuplet Halloween treat? Or, a trick? You to decide.
Unquestionably, the October stargazing calendar is full. It’s no stretch to say that there are big things happening in the night sky this month. From seemingly back-to-back continuous meteor showers, to a rare daytime comet, a Super Full Harvest Moon, and a Halloween triple treat to close out the month. It was foretold that October would have multiple celestial joys and wonders for us to harvest. It’s nice when our expectations are met. And that ain’t no boo!
Clear skies to you!
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