Astronomy news for the week starting Friday, October 28, 2011.
The Moon starts off our week just barely into its waxing crescent phase, our first look the
evening Friday the 28th within the glow of twilight. Thickening as
it moves to the east against the starry background, it does not
reach first quarter until Wednesday,
November 2 about the time of Moonrise in North America, after which
it enters the waxing gibbous phase. The
evening of Friday, October 28th, the crescent will shine well to
the right of Antares of Scorpius. Then look down and to the
right of the Moon, and if the sky and horizon cooperate, you might
glimpse
Venus, though it will be a difficult sight as the planet sets
half an hour before twilight's end.
Whatever other celestial sights there may be, the week belongs to
Jupiter, which on the night of Friday the 28th
stands in opposition to the
Sun, when it rises at sundown, crosses the meridian to the south at local midnight
(roughly 1 AM Daylight Time), then sets at sunup. Deep in
southwestern Aries, just
northeast of the point where Aries, Cetus, and Pisces all
meet, Jupiter is now in the middle of its slow retrograde (westerly against the stars) crawl. Then less
than an hour after Jupiter transits south, up comes Mars in
a fine location in western Leo just
a few degrees to the northwest of notably fainter Regulus, the blue-white star
contrasting nicely with the Martian red (actually more orange). As
the month of October gives way to November, Saturn passes due
south of Spica, the planet now
rising just as dawn begins to light the sky.
Look for November's Star, first magnitude Fomalhaut of Piscis Austrinus (the Southern Fish) as it crosses the
meridian far to the south around 9 PM Daylight Time, the planet-
holding star a true mark of middle-autumn. Above it lie the
stellar curves of Aquarius topped
by the Water Bearer's Y-shaped Water Jar. To the immediate
east-northeast of the "jug" find the Circlet of Pisces, which falls right below the Great Square of Pegasus. If you are far enough
south, look to the southwest of Fomalhaut to admire the modern
constellation of Grus, the Crane,
as it stalks along the southern horizon. Wait a couple hours then
and see the "W" of Cassiopeia
circling nearly overhead, at least for those at mid-northern
latitudes.
