October 2000

by Steve Stefanik

The changing colors of the foliage are not the only signs of Fall. The water constellations of Capricornus the sea goat, Pisces the fish, and Aquarius the water bearer as well as the "birds of Summer" Aquila the eagle and Cygnus the swan are all past our meridian at sunset this month as they head southwest for the winter. Pegasus the "winged horse" and Perseus of mythological legend are high overhead as the Pleiades open star cluster and the constellation Taurus "the bull" are rising in the east.

The giant planets of Saturn and Jupiter are rising along with Taurus. Saturn appears first rising about 8 o’clock EDT just below the Pleiades which which looks like a miniature "little dipper". The contrast between the blue-white diamond-like stars of the Pleiades and the buttterscotch yellow planet of Saturn is striking. Don’t confuse Saturn with the much redder first magnitude star Aldebaran below it the brightest star in Taurus which is the"eye" of the bull.

Jupiter rises about half an hour later a little to the left and slighlty higher than Aldebaran amidst the stars of the Hyades open star cluster. Its unmistakable at -2.7 magnitude, brighter than anything else in the area except the moon which joins the pair of planets on the nights of the 15th and 16th.

The planets Uranus and Neptune are at their highest in the south in the constellation Capricorn after sunset but you’ll need binoculars or a telescope to spot them.

Venus is still struggling into view low in the southwest as the sun sets. You might be able to spot it just because of its -4.0 brilliance above the red first magnitude star Antares in Scorpio low on the western horizon. If you have difficulty locating it you might wait until the evening of the 29th when a 2 day old waxing crescent moon will be about 7 degrees to the right of Venus.

Mercury may still be spotted the first week of October but its even lower to the western horizon than Venus making it even more difficult to view than Venus.

The last planet to make its way into the October nightsky is Mars but you’ll have to be up a couple of hours before dawn to spot it. Look for this red +1.8 magnitude disk low in the east above the first magnitude blue-white star Regulus in the constellation Leo the lion.