October 1997

by Steve Stefanik

If you look toward the west after sun goes down tonight you’ll see a four day old waxing crescent moon forming a triangle with the planets Venus and Mars. The brilliant -4.2 magnitude Venus will be about 8 degrees directly below the moon while the significantly dimmer magnitude +1.1 red planet Mars will be about 8 degrees to the left of Venus among the stars of the constellation Scorpio. Don’t confuse Mars with the other first magnitude red star Antares to its left in the heart of the scorpion. Incidently Antares means the rival of Mars which it certainly will do this month. Watch as they stay in close proximity from the 9th to the 14th. Venus passes less than 2 degrees above Antares on the 16th and 17th. On the 18th Mars, Venus, and Antares will be in a straight line cobering almost 6 degrees. On October 21 Venus will be about 2.5 degrees directly under Mars. The two planets remain close together through the 29th of the month. Their closest conjunction occurs on the 25th when they will be within 2 degrees of each other.

As Venus and Mars jockey for position in the western sky Jupiter is high in the southern sky as dusk gives way to darkness. Look for the gargantuan -2.5 magnitude planet in the midst of the constellation Capricorn. You can’t miss it. It stays almost stationary all month. Through a small telescope you can see its four largest moons tracing across its banded atmosphere or dipping behind the planet from hour to hour. Here’s you chance. Don’t miss it.

The planets Neptune and Uranus are just west of Jupiter in the constellation Sagittarius. At +5.8 magnitude Uranus may be spotted with naked eyes under a dark sky but Neptune at magnitude + 7.9 requires high power binoculars or a telescope of course.

As Venus and Mars are setting, Saturn the ringed planet is rising in the southeast. Saturn reaches opposition on the night of the 9th-10th when it will be directly opposite the sun from us. During this opposition not only will it be the brightest for the year but it will also be the biggest it ever gets because it will be as close as it ever gets. The rings will be tilted downward toward its southern hemisphere giving us a spectacular view. On this night it will rise as the sun sets, be high overhead by mid night, and set in the west as the sun rises in the east. It presents itself with many good viewing opportunities this month and for the next several months to come.

One more fine viewing opportunity presents itself in the early morning of the 19th when a waning gibbous moon (four days past full) occults the first magnitude brightest star Aldebaran in the constellation Taurus. If you have the chance use binoculars to watch as the limb of the moon encroaches and covers the star about 5:00 a.m.

One final event worth getting up early for is the annual Orionid meteor showers. Even though the showers peak on the night of the 21st, you can see many of them throughout the last two weeks of October. Look toward the constellation Orion as it rises in the darkness of early morning in the east, a sure sign that winter is not far behind.