Saturday: The
Draconid meteor shower peaks tonight and tomorrow night. The meteors appear to
come from a point in the head of Draco, the dragon constellation. This point is
nearly straight overhead at 7 p.m. tonight. This point remains near the
trapezoid-shaped head of Draco throughout the night. Unlike most meteor
showers, this one is best observed in the early evening rather than after
midnight. Call this the “early to bed” meteor shower. Draconid meteors are slow
moving which means you will have a easy time differentiating true Draconid
meteors, from Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner, from the stray grains of dust that
happen to enter the Earth’s atmosphere every day and night. The waning gibbous
moon will rise between 8:00 and 9:00 pm these next two nights so get your
meteor observing in early. For everything you need to know about the Draconid
meteor shower, go to http://earthsky.org/?p=3669.
Sunday: Astronomy
tabloid headline: “Moon seen partying with the seven sisters of the Pleaides
and the five sisters of the Hyades”. The Pleades and the Hyades are open star
clusters in the constellation Taurus the Bull.In fact, the Hyades cluster makes
up the snout of Taurus. In actuality, it is a group of about 300 stars situated
about 150 light years from Earth. The Pleiades consists of about 1,000 stars
that are 440 light years away. At 11 p.m., low in the eastern sky, the Hyades
is about a half a fist to the lower left of the Moon and the Pleiades is one
fist above the Moon.
Monday: At 7
p.m., Saturn is one and a half fists above the south-southwest horizon.
Tuesday: Astronomy
tabloid headline: “Moon seen rising with Mars and Venus early this morning”. At
6 a.m., all three are low on the eastern horizon. Mars is about a thumb width
to the upper right of the Moon. Venus is about a half a fist below the Moon.
Wednesday: While you are resting after looking for Draconid meteors this
past weekend, start thinking about the Orionid meteor shower. This shower,
which consists of the earth colliding with pieces of the remains of Halley's
Comet's tail, peaks on October 21 and 22 but produces meteors from now until
early November. These meteors appear to come from a point in Orion, the hunter.
This point is about two fists above the southeast horizon at 1 a.m. tonight.
You can follow this point throughout the night as it will remain near the
prominent reddish star Betelgeuse (pronounced Bet'-el-jews). The Orionid
meteors are fast - up to 40 miles per second. For more information about the
Orionids, go to https://goo.gl/ikAodW.
Thursday: Astronomers will practice their planetary defense system today
when a Klingon Bird-of-Prey enters Earth’s orbit…. Wait. That’s the plot of a
Star Trek story. Actually, asteroid
2012 TC4 will pass about 25 thousand miles from Earth. That’s one-tenth the
Earth-Moon distance. This will give astronomers the opportunity to test their
asteroid tracking and detection network, as well as get more precise orbital
parameters for this 30 to 100 meter diameter minor planet.
Friday: The
constellation Orion is four fists above due south at 6 a.m. The Orion is a
cloud of gas and dust visible with binoculars about a half a fist below the
“belt” of three stars. Are you are feeling especially attracted to the nebula?
If so, that might be because astronomers found evidence of a black hole in the
middle. They have not directly observed the back hole, which would be the
closest known one to Earth at a distance of 1,300 light years. But the motion
of stars in the region is consistent with them being near a black hole 100
times the mass of the Sun. For more information, go to http://goo.gl/AGjFf.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment