Saturday: Comet Lemmon (C/2025 A6) is still shaping up to be one of the brightest comets of the year. At 8:00 p.m., it is to the left of the star Cor Caroli, about one and a half fists above the northwestern horizon. You can also follow along the curve of the Big Dipper handle with binoculars. When you get to the end of the handle, move your binoculars downward towards the northwestern horizon. There is an interactive sky map at https://theskylive.com/c2025a6-info.
Sunday: The constellation Vulpecula, the little fox, stands
nearly six fists held upright and at arm’s length above due southwest at 9:00
p.m. It is in the middle of the Summer Triangle, which is defined by the bright
stars Vega, Deneb, and Altair. First find Deneb, the bright star nearly
straight overhead. It is at the tail of the constellation Cygnus the swan. Move
your eyes down towards the horizon and through the long neck of the swan. The
fox is so faint that you need very dark skies to see it. While dim, it has a
lot to offer astronomers. The first pulsar ever discovered is in Vulpecula. So
is one of the closest extrasolar planets with water in its atmosphere.
Monday: The Orionid meteor shower consists of the Earth
colliding with pieces of the remains of Halley's Comet's tail. This shower
peaks after midnight tonight until dawn tomorrow. This is not a meteor shower
that typically results in a meteor storm. There will be about 15-20 meteors per
hour, many more meteors than are visible on a typical night but not the storm
that some showers bring. The Moon will be new, meaning dark skies and good
viewing for the entire night. Meteor showers are named after the constellation
from which the meteors appear to originate. These meteors appear to come from a
point in Orion, the hunter. This point is about one fist held upright and at
arm’s length above due east at midnight. You can follow this point throughout
the night as it will remain one fist above the prominent reddish star
Betelgeuse (pronounced Bet'-el-jews). The Orionid meteors are fast - up to 40
miles per second. If you fall asleep tonight, you can catch the tail end of the
shower every night until early November. For more information, go to https://earthsky.org/?p=27937.
Tuesday: Saturn is three fists above the southeastern
horizon at 8:30 p.m.
Wednesday: Venus is about a half a fist above the eastern
horizon at 6:30 a.m. Jupiter is six fists above the southern horizon at this
time.
Thursday: What time is teatime? Certainly not during an
autumn evening. The constellation Sagittarius the archer, with its signature
teapot shape, is sinking into the southwestern horizon. By 8:00 p.m., the
handle is on top, and the spout is touching the horizon ready to pour that last
cup of tea.
Friday: Halloween is a week from today so make sure you load
up on peanut clusters, almond clusters, and open star clusters this week. That
last one will be easy (and cheap… actually free) because two of the most
prominent open star clusters in the sky are easily visible in the autumn sky.
The sideways V-shaped Hyades Cluster is two fists above due east at 10:00 p.m.
Containing over 300 stars; the Hyades cluster is about 150 light years away and
625 million years old. The Pleiades Cluster is a little more than three fists
above due east. It has three times as many stars as the Hyades Cluster and is
younger. Compared to our 5-billion-year-old Sun, the 100-million-year age of
the Pleiades is infant-like.
The positional information in this column about stars and
planets is typically accurate for the entire week. For up-to-date information
about the night sky, go to https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.
All times are Pacific Time unless noted.
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