Astronomy news for the week starting Friday, October 31, 2008.
The Moon
waxes in its crescent phase during most of
the week as it heads towards its first
quarter the night of Wednesday, November 5, the phase reached
about the time of Moonset in North America. Watch next as it
begins the first portion of the waxing
gibbous phase. Early in the week, note the nighttime side of
the lunar disk illuminated by light reflected from bright Earth, which
would be in the waning gibbous as seen from the Moon. Sadly, no
one is there to admire us.
The night of Friday, October 31, presents a dramatic panorama of
planets, Moon, and stars. Venus, now
brilliant in southwestern evening twilight (and quite impossible to
miss), will lie just a few degrees above the slim crescent, with Antares of Scorpius (for which you will need binoculars)
immediately to the right of the Moon. Then look up and to the left
of the trio through Sagittarius
(hard to see until dark) to
Jupiter, which is slowly closing in on much brighter Venus,
the two to come into conjunction the last day of November. As the
week progresses, the Moon will appear well to the left of Venus the
evening of Saturday, November 1, within the Teapot of Sagittarius the following evening, and then
will finish the evening of Monday the 3rd with a lovely pass just
a couple degrees south of Jupiter. The run quietly concludes with
a passage north of Neptune (which
ceases
retrograde motion on Sunday the 2nd) during the day of Thursday
the 6th. The night of Saturday the 1st, the Moon also passes its
apogee.
Look early to catch the two bright planets, as Venus sets just
shortly after twilight, by 7 PM Standard Time (which goes into
effect on Sunday the 2nd), and Jupiter by 9 PM. Then sit back for
the five hour wait until Saturn rises
almost due east around 2 AM.
With the coming of Halloween the night of Friday the 31st, we are
halfway to winter (the holiday one of the four "cross-quarter" days
and akin to winter's "groundhog day," which is halfway to spring).
Indeed, as Jupiter and Sagittarius set in the southwest, Orion is rising in the east,
preceded by various announcers that include Auriga, Taurus, and
Gemini.
