October 2014 – Skies News

Focus Constellations: Cassiopeia, Perseus, Camelopardalis, Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Draco, Cepheus, Cygnus, Lyra, Aquila, Capricornus, Aquarius, Pegasus, Pisces, Andromeda

Comet Journal

C/2012 K1 (PanSTARRS) is at 6th magnitude. It moved southward between Leo and Cancer in July and August, passed the head of Hydra in September, and is now approaching Puppis in southern hemisphere skies where it will remain until the summer of 2015 when it will have dimmed to 14th magnitude.

Comet C/2014 E2 (Jacques) rapidly dropped from 6th to 10th magnitude in September and is now circling through Aquila as it appears to spiral outward toward the outer solar system along its 12000 year orbit.

C/2013 V5 (Oukaimeden) passed closest to Earth (less than 45 million miles) when it reached 6th magnitude below Hydra right before dawn on the 16th. It circuited through perihelion on Sept. 28th and will reappear in evening skies below Libra in October. By the end of the month the comet will be higher in the western sky but much dimmer at 10th magnitude.

Comet C/2013 A1 (SIDING SPRING) is moving northward through Scorpius and into Ophiuchus in October as it approaches perihelion on the 25th when it may reach 8th magnitude. It will graze by Mars on the 19th as it ascends through the plane of the solar system then passes perihelion and continues northward and outward as it returns to the Oort Belt.

Mars Landers

Opportunity is on the west rim of Endeavour Crater. The multiple flash memory resets experienced by the rover in mid-August caused mission scientists to attempt a flash-memory reformat such as that accomplished five years ago on Spirit. Preparation for the project required emptying of science data in the flash memory, antennae adjustment to insure predictable communication, booting the rover into a mode independent of the flash file system, copying and safely saving necessary files, reformatting files, then restoring the reformatted files to the flash memory system. All these steps were successfuly completed between August 20th and September 9th after which Opportunity was instructed to head toward a small crater slightly over 200 feet away called Ulysses on Sol 3780 (Sept. 11, 2014). During the drive, 3 benign flash memory amnesia events and two flash write errors led mission scientists to continue investigation of possible causes.

NASA’s Curiosity rover is at the base of Mount Sharp, the layered mountain in the middle of Mars’ Gale Crater. It is proceeding with its first close look at bedrock that is part of Mount Sharp. Currently the rover is located adjacent to the Pahrump Hills rock outcrop with plans to proceed westerly to Murray Buttes, began the southwesterly climb over a rock layer called the Murray Formation, and continue southward to the Hematite Ridge farther up the flank of the mountain. The Murray Formation is composed of softer rock than that making up the previously examined floor of the crater. Initial encounters with outliers at Bonanza King and at another nearby outcrop proved the formation to be too unstable for drilling and revealed that the rock has a fine grained platy surface shot through with sulfate filled veins. Orbiter images showed another exposure of the Murray Formation uphill and south of Pahrump Hills which appeared to be a good drilling site. The site is at the southern end of a sandy floored valley that Curiosity entered from the north.

Late Wednesday, Sept. 24, the rover’s hammering drill chewed about 2.6 inches (6.7 centimeters) deep into the basal-layer outcropping of Mount Sharp. The Murray Formation mudstone has accumulations of resistant materials occurring as discrete clusters and as dendrites. Investigation of the shapes and chemical ingredients of these features may provide information about the possible composition of fluids at this Martian location long ago. A powdered-rock sample was collected at the selected drilling target, Confidence Hills. “This drilling target is at the lowest part of the base layer of the mountain, and from here we plan to examine the higher, younger layers exposed in the nearby hills,” said Curiosity Deputy Project Scientist Ashwin Vasavada of JPL. “This first look at rocks we believe to underlie Mount Sharp is exciting because it will begin to form a picture of the environment at the time the mountain formed, and what led to its growth.”

Meteor Showers

Of the 5 meteor showers in October including the Draconids (10/6 – 10/10), the Taurids (Southern from 9/10 to 11/20 and Northern from 10/10 to 12/10), and the Orionids (10/2 – 11/7), the latter is the best. The Draconids which typically produce minor showers generated by debris from Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner, peak on the 8th & 9th and have produced meteor storms such as the 300 per hour viewed in 2011. This year glare from the Full Moon will hide most of the meteors. The Taurids are also minor showers with a few meteors per hour and the Orionids range from 10 to 30 meteors per hour in dark skies and peak in the predawn skies on the 21st when they appear to emanate from the southwestern sky as the Earth plunges through the river of comet dust and debris shed during passages of Halley’s Comet in the last 30 centuries.

Planet Plotting

October evening planets are Mercury, Mars, Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus. The last two are visible most of the night.
Observers may briefly view Mercury (+0.3) in Virgo just above the west-southwest horizon after sunset during the first few days of October after which it will be buried in the glow of the setting Sun.

Mars (+0.8 to +0.9) moves from Ophiuchus to Sagittarius in October. Of the two bright red objects in the southwestern sky after sunset, Mars outshines and is above Antares (Alpha Scorpii) and sets about 3 hours after sunset throughout October. On October 19th, 8th magnitude Comet Siding Spring (C/2013 A1) circuits within 81,000 miles from Mars at 3PM EDT.

Saturn (+0.6 to +0.5) in Libra in the western sky sets 2 hours after the Sun on the 1st and 1 hour after sunset at the end of the month. Neptune (+7.8) in Aquarius and Uranus (+5.7) in Pisces both rise before sunset and on the 1st the former sets about 3AM and the latter sets about 6AM. Uranus is brightest at opposition on the 7th.

Jupiter (-1.9 to -2.1) in Leo is a morning planet and Mercury(-0.5) in Virgo will join Jupiter at the end of October after passing Inferior Conjunction with the Sun on the 16th. According to Astronomy magazine, Mercury will be slightly above the eastern horizon about 45 minutes before dawn on the 26th. Jupiter rises after 3AM in Cancer on the 1st and is the brightest planet in the predawn skies. Venus is at Superior Conjunction with the Sun on the 25th and is lost in its glare all month.

Planet……Constellation……Magnitude……Planet Passages

Sun……….Virgo………-26.8…………New Moon, ………………………………………………………10/23, 5:57PM EDT Mercury…Virgo…..+0.3/3.0/-0.5…….Inferior Conjunction …………………………………………………………10/16, 5PM EDT
Venus……Virgo………-3.9 to -4.0…….Superior Conjunction ………………………………………………………….10/25, 4AM EDT
Mars….Ophiuchus, Sagittarius….+0.8 to +0.9
Jupiter…..Cancer, Leo………-1.9 to -2.1
Saturn…..Libra…………..+0.6 to +0.5
Uranus….Pisces…………+5.7
Neptune…Aquarius…….+7.8

October Moon

Lunation 1135 started with the New Moon of Sept. 24th at 2:14AM EDT and ends 29.65 days later when the New Moon of October 23rd at 5:57PM EDT presents observers in the western and midwestern United States with a partial solar eclipse centered on the eastern Pacific Ocean. Northern observers will witness more than 60% of the Sun eclipsed and southern observers will see almost 40% of the Sun blocked by the Moon. It starts in the early afternoon and ends somewhat before or at sunset for western observers and the Sun will set at maximum eclipse for midwestern observers. For those on the east coast, the eclipse will start shortly before or at sunset.

The Full Moon of October in Pisces on the 8th at 6:51AM EDT coincides with a total lunar eclipse centered over the mid-Pacific Ocean. Whereas observers on the west coast will see the entire eclipse, those in the midwest will be limited to its first phases before sunrise. The Moon sets during the total eclipse phase on the east coast and at the end of totality in the midwest. West coast observers will see the entire eclipse. The penumbral phase of the eclipse starts after 4:15AM EDT in the midwest, with the partial phase beginning between 30 minutes and an hour later, and totality (lasting about an hour) follows in another hour and 10 minutes.

Both solar and lunar eclipses occur when the Moon is at one of the syzygies in its orbit. The plane of the Moon’s orbit is tilted by about 5.15° to that of the Earth. The two points where planes intersect are called the syzygies which move through space as the Moon’s orbit slowly swivels around Earth. When the line between syzygies is congruent with the line connecting Moon, Earth and Sun, the Moon will be between the Earth and Sun blocking out the Sun (Total Solar Eclipse) or Earth will be between the Moon and the Sun blocking sunlight from reaching the Moon (Total Lunar Eclipse). In October, the Moon is at a syzygy on the 8th and reaches the other syzygy on the 23rd, causing eclipses in both instances.

The Moon of October was usually the “Hunter’s Moon” in Colonial America. It succeeded the “Harvest Moon” which was the Full Moon closest to the Autumnal Equinox. In most years the Harvest Moon occurred in September but occasionally it was in October. This year the equinox was 13 days after the September Full Moon and 14 days before the October Full Moon. October gets to host the “Hunter’s Moon!”

Celts celebrated October’s Full Moon as the “Harvest Moon.” Chinese call it “Kindly Moon.” To Medieval English, it was “Blood Moon” and Anishnaabe (Odawa and Ojibwe) of northern Michigan call it “Binaakwe-giizis” (Falling Leaves Moon).

The Moon is nearest (perigee) in its orbit (225,232 miles or 56.83 Earth Radii) on October 6th at 5:39AM EDT. Apogee distance (maximum distance) is 251,5910 miles (63.48 Earth Radii) from Earth on the 18th at 2:06AM EDT.

Planet..Constellation..Magnitude..Moon Passage..Moon ……………………………………………………………Phase/Age

Sun…….Virgo……-26.8…………………5:57PM EDT, 10/23 ……………………………………………………..New ~ 0 days Mercury..Virgo…..+2.9……………..0.69°SSW, 6PM EDT, 10/22 ………………………………………..Waning Crescent ~ 28.66 days Venus…..Virgo…..-4.0……………….0.12°SE, 5PM EDT, 10/23 …………………………………………Waning Crescent ~ 29.62 days
Mars…Sagittarius..+0.9………………..7.0°N, 9AM EDT, 10/28 ………………………………………….Waxing Crescent ~ 4.63 days Jupiter….Leo……….-2.0………….5.0°S, Midnight EDT, 10/17 ………………………………………….Waning Crescent ~ 22.91 days Saturn…..Libra……+0.5…………….1.0°N, Noon EDT, 10/25 ………………………………………….Waxing Crescent ~ 1.75 days Uranus….Pisces…..+5.7……………….1.2°N, 7AM EDT, 10/08 …………………………………………..Waxing Gibbous ~ 14.42 days Neptune..Aquarius..+7.8………………5.0°N, 5PM EDT, 10/5 …………………………………………..Waxing Gibbous ~ 11.62 days