Astronomy news for the two weeks starting Friday, October 17,
2014.
Coming off third quarter last Wednesday,
October 15, the Moon fades during most of the first week of our
fortnight in the waning
crescent phase, passing new Moon on Thursday, October 23, when
it will cross in front of the Sun to produce a
partial solar eclipse visible throughout nearly all of North
America. (The dark part of the lunar shadow completely misses
Earth, so there is no total eclipse anywhere). The western part
of the continent will see the whole event beginning in the
afternoon, while those in the east will see it in and around
sunset. The
times depend strongly on location: check local sources. Be
sure to use proper eye protection, as the Sun in any
stage of partial eclipse is much too bright to look at directly.
Use a professionally made filter only. A safe way to view the
eclipse is by projection, in which sunlight falls through a
pinhole in a piece of cardboard onto a piece of paper or even the
sidewalk. At maximum about half the Sun will be covered. The waxing crescent will become barely visible
in western twilight the evening of Friday the 24th as the Moon
heads toward first quarter on Friday
the 30th in late evening in North America, allowing the near-
perfect phase to be seen. The Moon passes apogee
, where it is farthest from Earth, on Friday the 17th.
On the morning of Saturday the 18th, the waning crescent will shine
just below Jupiter with the
star Regulus to the left. The
following morning sees Jupiter below the star. After the Moon flips
to the other side of the sky, the waxing crescent will make a nice
pairing with Mars (the planet
to the left) the evening of Monday the 27th, while the following evening
it will have moved to a position above and a bit to the left of the
red planet.
Jupiter, rising in eastern Leo
half an hour past local midnight (1 AM Daylight) at the beginning
of our two-week period, shortly before local midnight by the end
of it, dominates the planetary sky. But Mars still glows redly in
southwestern evening skies, setting around 9 PM Daylight. Between
the classical figures of Scorpius
and Sagittarius, Mars' westerly
motion toward the latter can easily be followed. In the second
week of the fortnight,
Mercury makes a nice appearance in eastern morning twilight,
the planet passing greatest western elongation on November 1.
Venus, second from the Sun, goes through superior conjunction
with the Sun on Saturday the 25th. While becoming an evening
planet, it will not be readily visible until early next year.
Watch for the
Orionid meteor shower, which peaks the mornings of October 21 and
22. The leavings of Comet Halley, the shower (which appears to come
from the direction of Orion) produces
20 or so meteors per hour.
The summer stars slip off to the west to be replaced by those of
autumn. To the east and a bit north of the Little Milk Dipper of Sagittarius is faint Capricornus, which looks like an old-
fashioned upside-down cocked hat. The two make a triangle with Aquila (the Eagle) and the star Altair above them. Altair is
quickly recognizable for its two flanking stars, Alshain (to the southwest) and Tarazed. Well to the east, Fomalhaut, in Piscis Austrinus (the Southern Fish),
begins to sail across far southern skies as seen from the
temperate north.
