For October 2023. The waning gibbous moon rises just north of bright Jupiter on October 1, about 9 p.m. The last quarter moon is on October 6. The waning crescent moon passes just above brilliant Venus, with the star Regulus in Leo sandwiched between them (great photo op!). The big event is of course the partial solar eclipse at New Mon on Saturday, October 14. The EAAA will set up at the Pensacola State Planetarium at 10 a.m. with first contact locally at 10:41 a.m. 70% of the Sun will be covered about noon, and the moon leaves the sun’s disk about 1:50 p.m. You will need to use safe filters, such as our eclipse viewers, to visually or photographically observe this event. Contact me through our Facebook messenger if your group has been missed. We have currently distributed over 6,000 of these locally, with the proceeds supporting public evening programming at the planetarium. The photo below by Merry Edenton-Wooten illustrates the maximum eclipse visible.
Farther west, in Texas and New Mexico, the moon will pass directly in front of the Sun. But this time it is not a total eclipse, since the moon is near apogee in its orbit, too distant and small to over the whole sun. The most dramatic of all is the broken annular eclipse, such as Merry photographed on May 30, 1984. This perfect alignment only lasted eleven seconds, so Merry was delighted to take this shot that made the cover of the Astronomical League’s Reflector magazine in June 1984.
Mercury lies too close to the Sun for visibility from Earth this month. Venus by contrast is at its greatest brilliancy as a waxing crescent in the dawn as October begins. It reaches its greatest elongation west of the Sun on October 23 at 48 degrees in front of the rising sun. On the edge of her orbit, Venus will then appear exactly half-lit. Mars is now lost behind the Sun as well. Jupiter and Saturn are both well placed for evening observing. Jupiter reaches opposition in early November and rises about 10 p.m. in the northeast in Taurus at midmonth.
For a detailed map of northern hemisphere skies visit the SkyMaps website and download the map for October 2023.
The Big Dipper falls lower each evening. By the end of October, it will be only the three stars in the handle of Dipper still visible in the northwestern twilight. By contrast, the Little Dipper, while much fainter, is always above our northern horizon here along the Gulf Coast.
The brightest star of the northern hemisphere, Vega dominates the sky overhead. To the northeast of Vega is Deneb, the brightest star of Cygnus the Swan. To the south is Altair, the brightest star of Aquila the Eagle, the third member of the three bright stars that make the Summer Triangle so obvious in the NE these clear autumn evenings. To the east of Altair lies tiny Delphinus, a rare case of a constellation that does look like its namesake.
To the east, the square of Pegasus is a beacon of fall. If the southern skies of Fall look sparse, it is because we are looking away from our Galaxy into the depths of intergalactic space. The constellation Cassiopeia makes a striking W, rising in the northeast as the Big Dipper sets in the NW. Polaris lies about midway between them. She contains many nice star clusters for binocular users in the outer arm of our Milky Way, extending to the northeast now. Her daughter, Andromeda, starts with the northeast corner star of Pegasus’’ Square and goes northeast with two more bright stars in a row. It is from the middle star, beta Andromeda, that we proceed about a quarter the way to the top star in the W of Cassiopeia, and look for a faint blur with the naked eye. M-31, the Andromeda Galaxy, is the most distant object visible to the naked eye, lying 2.5 million light-years distant. Our fine feature shot is by Freddy Bowles taken from Milton.
Look closely at this superb star city. Bigger than our own Milky Way, it too has companions like our own Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. The one closest to it, M-32, lies above the core in this shot, while the larger M-110 lies to the left of the disk here. All three are visible in small telescopes. The core appears redder, due to the aging population II stars near its core, but the outer regions are rejuvenated by continuous star birth of bright population I is the hot pink H-II regions that outlines the leading edges of the spiral arms.
Below Andromeda is her hero, Perseus. In his hand is a star most appropriate for Halloween, Algol. This star “winks” at us for six out of every 70 hours, which Arabic astronomers centuries ago found spooky, hence naming it “the ghoul." We know today it is an eclipsing binary system, an orange giant covering most of its blue companion.
At the foot of Perseus, the hero of “Clash of the Titans” is the fine Pleiades star cluster, the “seven sisters” that reveal hundreds of cluster members in large binoculars.
For deep skies with much less light pollution, on the weekends of the third quarter moon, we continue our cooperation with the Florida State Parks at Big Lagoon State Park. Here the emphasis is on learning to observe and photograph the night sky with binoculars or your own telescopes and smartphones or other cameras. While the Pavilion parking is free, normal entry fees to Big Lagoon still apply, and remember to check in the front gate before it closes at sunset. Check our Facebook pagefor the updated schedule for the fall and winter seasons coming soon.
For more information on the Escambia Amateur Astronomers, join us on Facebook or contact our sponsor, Lauren Rogers at Pensacola State at lrogers@pensacolastate.edu. Be aware of “pop-up” gazes when clear skies permit at the Airport Approach on Langley for special help sessions.
