Welcome every person to your favorite ‘completely satisfied place’ – the AOP evening sky weblog, the place you possibly can kick off your footwear, cosy up in a cushty chair and chill-out amongst the shimmering stars! It’s additionally the month with the complicated title which begins with “Oct” -which implies the 8th month, however that we all know is in actuality the tenth of the yr. That is simply defined after we return to the unique Roman Republic calendar which solely contained 10 months in complete, and of which October was the 8th. Apparently although, a chap known as Caesar got here alongside and added in 2 extra at first of the yr, pushing our 8th month into 10th place. So with out additional ado let’s begin our tour of the October evening sky!
Picture Credit score: Stellarium
We’ll begin by trying WEST, (the route the place the Solar units within the night) from 10pm onwards. The month commences at least with a meteor bathe, the Draconids, peaking on the evening of the 8th by way of till the morning of the 9th October with as much as 10 meteors per hour, seen across the constellation of the dragon, Draco – from the place they radiate. (Being a ‘Circumpolar constellation’, one which revolves round and near the ‘Pole Star’, Polaris – this meteor bathe is assured to carry a distinguished place excessive above the horizon.) Though the Draconids are usually one of many ‘lazier’ meteor showers of the yr, because the sky continues to darken as we progress by way of the autumn months it could possibly be nicely price preserving your eyes peeled with this meteor bathe as a result of sometimes the dragon stirs from his slumbers to unleash quite a few fireballs throughout our northern celestial hemisphere!
If the meteor bathe proves to be a tamer affair -why not as an alternative search for the glowing eyes of the dragon at the hours of darkness? These are stars Rastaban and Eltanin. To seek out them, find the two distinctive asterisms – the Summer time Triangle and the Plough. The dragon lurks between these two star patterns, with Eltanin, a 2.24 magnitude star being the closest and brightest simply to the fitting (or north) of the star Vega. Draco’s different eye – the star Rastaban, is the third brightest of this star sample and like Eltanin, can be a double star.
Picture Credit score: Stellarium
Whereas we’re within the celestial neighborhood the subsequent object that’s a favorite amongst astronomers is, what’s believed to be the positioning of a galactic ‘hit- and-run’ accident! Being about 420 000 000 mild years away within the constellation of Draco, it took at least the Hubble House Telescope to see the article clearly, because it’s a lot too dim for the bare eye. It lies within the curving stomach of Draco the place Hercules’s proper knee comes closest to the dragon within the evening sky.
Picture Credit score: NASA
A proof for the weird form of this galaxy (known as Arp 188) is that about 100 million years in the past, a smaller extra compact galaxy is believed to have ripped by way of the bigger barred spiral galaxy (seen within the foreground), with large tidal forces pulling out stars, mud and fuel alongside the best way. “So the place is the perpetrator?” – you could nicely ask. Properly astronomers assume the smaller cosmic saboteur is impudently hiding about 300 000 mild years behind its sufferer in House! After its heinous act of cosmic sabotage, producing a vibrant particles path 280 000 mild years in size, forces of gravitational attraction between the 2 galaxies brought about the ‘intruder galaxy’ to slingshot spherical behind Arp 188. Regardless of what occurred between these 2 galaxies previously, scientists consider gravity has them destined to make up and in the end merge a while sooner or later! Due to the weird form of this galaxy, it has been nicknamed ‘The Tadpole’. [621]
Picture Credit score: Stellarium
Let’s now swing spherical on our heels to look in the other way to the place the Solar rises within the morning, in order that we’re dealing with EAST. The summer time months have offered a terrific alternative to get pleasure from all of the splendour of the Summer time Triangle and it’s related constellations, however as we method the mid-point of our autumn season – let’s now draw a number of extra triangles within the evening sky. Simply above Jupiter mid-month at 10pm you’ll have the ability to discover the constellation of the ram – Aries. In mythology Aries was the magical ram belonging to Zeus, king of the gods and as an alternative of wool its fleece was manufactured from gold. The brightest star on this constellation known as Hamal which suggests ‘head of the sheep’. If you wish to examine you’ve discovered it, along with your thoughts’s eye draw 2 traces out from the left-hand-side of the Nice sq. of Pegasus in the direction of a vibrant star to type a triangle. The star you need to discover ought to be Hamal.
Shifting upwards is a small usually missed little constellation known as Triangulum, which, because the title suggests is one other little triangle in our evening sky. In the event you see just a little group of stars between Aries and that super-bright ‘W’ within the evening sky, queen of the heavens – Cassiopeia, then you definately might be certain you’ve discovered it. Though Triangulum is especially small, inside its celestial terrain is an actual gem – the Triangulum Galaxy, M33, additionally typically known as the ‘Pinwheel Galaxy’, due to its putting form. It lies about 3 million mild years from Earth and spanning greater than 50 000 mild years throughout is the threerd largest star metropolis in our Native Group of galaxies.
Picture Credit score: Adam Krypel (Pixabay)
Through the early hours of the 22nd October within the southeast, as he continues to rise above the horizon – Orion the hunter’s upraised arm might be bearing an enormous ‘cosmic sparkler’ within the type of the Orionids meteor bathe! Look out for 10-20 meteors per hour radiating from the Orion constellation on this date which is the meteor bathe’s peak.
In the event you missed the spectacular sight of a conjunction of the Moon and Jupiter within the east on the twond of the month (when 2 celestial objects ‘seem’ shut collectively within the sky regardless of truly being separated by a terrific distance within the Photo voltaic System), then get pleasure from one other conjunction of the second greatest planet of the Photo voltaic System – Saturn with the Moon on the 24th October!
Picture Credit score: Peter Ward (Barden Ridge Observatory)
And to spherical issues off properly the Solar, Earth, and Moon might be virtually completely aligned on the evening of the 28th October in order that a part of the Moon’s disk will disappear because it dips into Earth’s shadow for a partial lunar eclipse. Between 7pm and 11.26pm (within the UK and Eire) be careful for the entire Moon darkening considerably because it passes by way of the ‘Penumbra’ (zone behind the Earth the place a number of the Solar’s mild can not attain). After this, a small a part of the darkened Moon will seem like it has disappeared because it skims the Umbra (area behind the Earth finest hidden from all daylight). Lending its help for this end-of-month extravaganza would be the king of the planets, Jupiter – flanking the Moon on its left-hand aspect. So maintain your eyes peeled for the silhouette of a determine on a broomstick throughout this ghoulish Full Moon occasion!
