Photo of the Week. The waning gibbous Moon, just 1.1
day past full, peeks through the trees.
Astronomy news for the two weeks starting Friday, October 7,
2016.
The next Skylights will appear October 21, 2016.
The Moon brightens in the first part of our session, passing through first quarter the night of Saturday, October 8,
around the time of moonset in North America. The waxing gibbous Moon
then heads to full phase, when
it is opposite the Sun the night of Saturday the 15th with the Moon
climbing the eastern sky. The Moon then
wanes in the gibbous phase, third quarter
not reached until Saturday, October 22. The Moon passes perigee, where and
when it is closest to Earth (about 5.5 percent closer than average) on
Sunday the 16th, less than a day after full, the combination bringing
especially high and low tides at the ocean
shores.
The big lunar event is the occultation of the bright star Aldebaran in Taurus (the Moon crossing the star in its easterly motion)
the night of Tuesday the 18th/morning of Wednesday the 19th, the exact
time depending on location, but generally around midnight. The
disappearance of the star will probably take a telescope to see as the
leading edge of the gibbous Moon will be so bright. An hour or so later,
Aldebaran will pop out the other side. The event is visible south of the
line that connects Minneapolis, Denver, and Los Angeles. On the line
itself an observer with a telescope can watch the star graze the edge of
the Moon, flittering among crater edges.
The Moon will be to the right of Saturn the evening of
Saturday the 5th, up and to the left the following night,
Antares below.
Mars has
taken off for the east and Sagittarius.
The Moon will pass north of the planet the nights of Friday the 7th and
Saturday the 8th. In evening western twilight you'll find Saturn and
brilliant Venus. In the
morning sky, Mercury lies
close to Jupiter
in bright twilight. At the end, Uranus is in
opposition to the Sun on
Saturday the 15th when it is just south of the nearly full Moon and
quite invisible.
The Summer Triangle, made of
three first magnitude stars and visible most anywhere, is in its full
glory, with the bright star Vega in Lyra at the northeast apex, fainter Altair in Aquila at the southern, fainter-yet Deneb in Cygnus at the northwest apex. Far to the south the zodiacal constellations Sagittarius and Capricornus crawl along the horizon.
