Saturday: Tonight is International Observe the Moon night. Hopefully, you can go outside and look up between 6:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. If not, there are many virtual activities. For more information, go to https://moon.nasa.gov/observe-the-moon-night/
Sunday: At 8:00 p.m., the moon and Saturn are two fists held
upright and at arm’s length above the east-southeastern horizon. Saturn remains
below the moon throughout the night.
Monday: Tonight’s full moon is the Harvest Moon. The Harvest
Moon is the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox. Usually that occurs in
September. Approximately every three years, it occurs in October, replacing the
Hunter’s Moon.
Tuesday: The Draconid meteor shower peaks for the next three
nights with tomorrow night being the best. The meteors appear to come from a
point in the head of Draco, the dragon constellation. This point is nearly
straight overhead at 7:00 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 an 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. Unfortunately, the
moon is full, meaning most of the dimmer meteors will be obscured. For
everything you need to know about the Draconid meteor shower, go to https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-draconid-meteor-shower
Wednesday: Mars is just above the west-southwestern horizon
at 7:00 p.m.
Thursday: In 2020, astronomers announced that they detected
phosphine, a possible biosignature of life, in the upper atmosphere of Venus.
Although the surface of Venus is inhospitable, astronomers have long speculated
that the upper atmosphere could harbor life. Not Cloud City life from The
Empire Strikes Back but maybe microbial life. In 2022, astronomers concluded
that the original scientists found the signature of sulfur dioxide, not life.
In 2023, the private company Rocket Lab published details about the first
privately funded mission to another planet - their trip to Venus. The launch
has been delayed until at least 2026. This Venus storyline is an excellent
example of science at work. In less than two years, science went from “we may
have found a marker for life on Venus” to “it is unclear if we found a marker
for life” to “we probably didn’t find a marker for life” to “let’s visit Venus
to closely study the thing we thought was a marker for life”. Do an internet
search of the words Venus and phosphine and read the articles to follow the
story. To get yourself in the mood, go outside at 6:15 a.m. Venus is a fist
above the eastern horizon at this time. Read more about the potential mission
at https://www.space.com/the-universe/venus/the-1st-private-mission-to-venus-comes-together-ahead-of-possible-2026-launch-photos
Friday: The Milky Way makes a faint white trail from due
northeast, by the moon, through straight overhead to due southwest at 9:00 p.m.
Starting in the northeast, the Milky Way “passes through” the prominent
constellations Auriga the charioteer, Cassiopeia the queen, and Cygnus the swan
with its brightest star, Deneb, nearly straight overhead. After Cygnus, you’ll
see Aquila the eagle with its brightest star Altair about four and a half fists
above the southwest horizon.
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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