The summer triangle, constellations Lyra, Cygnus and Aquila, are slowly disappearing towards the West. The constellations Pegasus, the big square, Orion and Taurus, with the Pleiades are moving South in the early evenings. Cassiopeia, the "W" shaped constellation is higher in the East and later in the evening you will see Auriga. All constellations are easy to recognize and to find.
The planets Venus, Mars and Jupiter are still in the early morning in the sky, just before Sun rise. Uranus is close to the Moon tomorrow on Thursday. Deep-Sky observing and dim objects is best to observe between midnight and 6 am in the morning. The Moon will disturb strong though.
We are just over First Quarter Moon from yesterday Tuesday 20 October and next week Tuesday 27 October we will have Full Moon. So the majority of the night the Moon light will disturb the dark skies. It is as well Super Moon. When a Full Moon occurs within 90% of the Moon’s closest approach to Earth in a given orbit, it is called a Super Moon. The Full Moon then appears especially big and bright since it subtends its largest apparent diameter as seen from Earth. The biggest Super Moon for this year we had during the total lunar eclipse on 28 September though.
Wednesday 21 October
The Moon is close to the star Dabih at 6.55 pm. Limb separation is 5° or 9 lunar diameters. Altitude is 22° and the Moon phase is 60%.
The International Space Station (ISS) appears at 7.21 pm in the West. Culmination or highest point in the sky is at 7.26 pm in the South South West at 19° and ISS disappears at 7.29 pm in the South South East.
The meteor shower Orionids is best seen from 10 pm to 6.30 am and the local hour rate is now 9.
At 5.20 am an Iridium flare appears in the South West at 63° in the constellation Auriga.
At 6.36 am the Jupiter Moon Ganymede reappears from an occultation. Use a small telescope or binocular to see.
And another flare is visible at 7.11 am at 55° in the North in the constellation Ursa Minor.
Thursday 22 October
The meteor shower Orionids is at its maximum today. The stream is active from 2 October to 7 November. The local rate will be over 9.
ISS appears at 6.29 pm in the West. Culmination at 6.34 pm in the South South West at 26° and ISS disappears at 6.39 pm in the South East.
The Golden Handle is visible on the Moon from 11.25 pm to 2.20 am. The Sun rises on the Jura Mountains while Sinus Iridium is still in shadow.
At 4.49 am the Jupiter Moon Europa begins its Eclipse. Jupiter is at 12° altitude. Use a small binocular or small telescope.
At 5.14 am an Iridium flare appears in the South West at 61° in the constellation Taurus. Another flare appears at 7.05 am in the North at 54° in the constellation Ursa Minor.
Closing the morning session off with the transit of the Great Red Spot on Jupiter at 7.14 am. Use a small telescope of binocular to watch. Jupiter is 32° high but it is near to Sun rise.
Friday 23 October
Today in 1814 the first modern plastic surgery was performed at the Duke of York's Hospital in Chelsea. The surgeon Joseph Carpue had read letter by a British surgeon Lucas in October 1794 in the Gentleman's Magazine. Lucas described a successful procedure performed in India whereby a forehead flap was used to reconstruct a man's mutilated nose, which had been deliberately mutilated by enemies of the British East Indian forces.
The meteor shower Orionids is best seen from 9.55 pm to 6.35 am and the local hour rate is 7.
ISS appears at 7.13 pm in the West. Culmination at 7.18 pm in the South West at 11° and ISS disappears at 7.22 pm in the South South East.
After midnight, in the early morning at 5.15 am the Jupiter Moon Europa is in Eastern Elongation. Watch for Jupiter at altitude 16° and with a small telescope or binoculars.
Saturday 24 October
Today in 2003 the final scheduled flights of the British Airways Concorde brought an end to the era of supersonic passenger service that began on 21 January 1976. The Air France Concorde service had ended on 31 May 1976. The two airlines had previously made simultaneous announcements on 10 April 2003 that the SSTs were to be retired.
Saturday to Sunday night at 3 am in Europe it is the end of Daylight Saving Time. Move your clocks backwards!
The meteor shower Orionids is best seen from 10 pm to 5.30 am and the local hour rate is 5.
ISS appears at 6.21 pm in the West. Culmination at 6.25 pm in the South West at 16° and ISS disappears at 6.30 pm in the South South East.
At 6.26 pm a very bright Iridium flare appears in the South at altitude 43° in the constellation Aquila.
After midnight at 3.58 am the Jupiter Moon Io is in Eastern Elongation. Jupiter is at altitude 14°. Use a small telescope or binoculars.
And at 6.30 am the inner planet Venus is in Dichotomy or Half phase.
Sunday 25 October
Don't forget - Time changed - Summer Time is finished!
Today it is the 40th Anniversary of Venera 10. The USSR Venus Landing was in 1975.
At 8.03 pm Venus is in conjunction with Jupiter. Only 1° separated from Jupiter. Look in the mornings for this pair. Send your pictures in!
And at 8.33 pm the planet with the rings Saturn is close to the star Graffias. Only 41' or just over a lunar diameter separated.
Look after midnight at 3.45 am in the morning for Jupiter. Transit of the Great Red Spot. Use a small telescope or binocular. Altitude of Jupiter is 12°.
Monday 26 October
The Moon is in perigee at 1.07 pm. Distance of the Moon to the Earth is 224 045 miles or 358 472 km.
At 6.50 pm an occultation will happen by the Moon. The star Mu Psc is immersing. The altitude of the Moon is 19°. Moon phase is 99%, so nearly Full Moon. After midnight, at 4 am the Moon is close to the star Torcularis Septent. Limb separation is about 17° or just less than 2 lunar diameters.
Tuesday 27 October
Today James Cook was born on 27 October 1728. He died on 14 February 1779 at the age of 50.
At 12.05 pm it is Full Moon. It is 23 hours from perigee and called Super Moon.
After Sunset at 5.15 pm an Iridium flare is visible in the South South West at altitude 40° in the constellation Serpens Cauda.
Look in the morning, before Sun rise at 5.24 am for Jupiter at altitude 27°. Transit of the Great Red Spot. Use a small telescope or binocular.
Wednesday 28 October
Today in 1992 scientists using sonar to map Scotland's Loch Ness made contact with a mysterious object, but declined to speculate what that implies about whether the legendary monster “Nessie” exists. The average depth of Loch Ness is 470 feet or 145 meter and it has a maximum depth of 788 feet or 240 meter.
After Sun set at 5.11 pm an Iridium flare appears in the South South West at 38° in the constellation Serpens Cauda.
Use a small telescope or binocular in the early morning. At 3.37 am the Jupiter Moon Io is in Inferior Conjunction. Jupiter is at altitude 12°. At 3.49 am the Jupiter Moon Io ends its shadow over Jupiter and at 4.45 am the Jupiter Moon Io actually and its transit. At 6.05 am the Jupiter Moon Ganymede ends its eclipse. By then Jupiter is at altitude 33°.
Get in touch with me via www.patrickpoitevin.weebly.com if you need more information.
SKY WATCH week 21 October Special - The giant planet Jupiter
In the morning skies we have at the moment the planet Jupiter. Venus is indeed the brightest of the planets we observe, but Jupiter is very noticeable this month in the East and before dawn. Look in the direction of Sun rise. Not far from the bright Venus you will notice Jupiter, the second brightest planet. Fainter Mars is also in the morning sky and beneath Venus. Saturn is the lone evening planet this month, setting at early evening. Mercury will make a fine appearance in the morning sky. Jupiter did catch up with Mars since 17 October, to exhibit these two planets’ first conjunction since 22 July 2013. The next conjunction of Mars and Jupiter will not be until 7 January 2018.
Jupiter heads towards Venus, preparing their third and final conjunction of the year in the morning sky of 26 October. Do not miss this beautiful conjunction! They will be like twins before dawn. By coincidence, as Venus and Jupiter show off their final conjunction of 2015, Venus will reach its greatest western or morning elongation from the Sun. Moreover, the year’s closest grouping of three planets – Venus, Mars and Jupiter – will also take place on 26 October. That is a big deal because the next planetary trio will not occur again until January, 2021!
Only the Sun, Moon and Venus are brighter than the planet Jupiter when we look in the sky. It is one of five planets visible to the naked eye from Earth.
If you have a binocular or a small telescope, it is fairly easy to see Jupiter’s four major moons, which look like faint little stars on or near the same plane of Jupiter. They are often called the Galilean Moons to honor Galileo, who discovered these great Galilean Moons in 1610. In their order from Jupiter, these moons are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. The Galilean Moons circle Jupiter around the equator. In cycles of six years, we view Jupiter’s equator edge-on. So in 2015 we got to view a number of mutual events involving Jupiter’s Moons through a telescope.
For spotting these four Galilean Moons, the minimum size of binocular is a 7 x 50. It magnifies what your eyes see seven times and have front lenses that are 50mm in diameter. You can certainly catch glimpses of these Galilean Moons with hand held binoculars. Your view will be much improved by resting the binoculars on a wall or fence, or even attaching them to a tripod with an inexpensive bracket. With binoculars though, Jupiter itself will not appear as anything more than a large disc. In some instances, and you have to read the weekly SKY WATCH, you might be able to observe the Great Red Spot on Jupiter's disc.
Jupiter is grandiose in all respects. Not only is it the largest of the planets. It would take 1321 Earths to fill the volume of Jupiter. It is also more than likely that it keeps the largest entourage of Moons. It is the massive gravitational effect of Jupiter that does the trick, attracting more than 100 Moons into orbit around the planet at the latest estimate. Many of these satellites are fairly small and cannot be observed from Earth, but the biggest four are easy to spot with just a small pair of binoculars.
Observing the Moons
To view Jupiter you use a binocular or a small telescope. A lens of 3 to 6 inches in diameter should do. It gathers more light and it can magnify the view more, so the Moons will appear brighter and fill more of the field of view. Do not expect to see all four Moons. The Moons travel around the planet Jupiter and they may be behind or in front of Jupiter when you are looking. Read our SKY WATCH weekly and you will see when a shadow of a Moon is visible or when a Moon is crossing over the disc or behind Jupiter.
It is by using a larger scope with a front lens over 6 inches in diameter that you really start to see detail on the planet itself. Not only the darker belts and lighter zones, but features within the gaseous atmosphere as well. At this level of detail, observers can also see the occasional dark spot caused by the Moons casting their shadows onto Jupiter’s atmosphere. The joy of Jupiter is that whatever your level of equipment, there is always something to see.
The planet Jupiter is the fifth planet out from the Sun, and is two and a half times more massive than all the other planets in the solar system combined. It is made primarily of gases and is therefore known as a “gas giant”. The mass is 1 898 130 000 000 000 000 billion kg or 317.83 x the Earth. The equatorial diameter of the planet is 89 365 miles or 142 984 km. The polar diameter is 83 568 miles or 133 709 km. The equatorial circumference is 274 640 miles or 439 264 km. Jupiter has at the moment 67 known Moons. The most notable Moons are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Jupiter has 4 known rings. The orbit distance is 486 463 013 miles or 778 340 821 km or what we call 5.20 AU. One Astronomical Unit is the distance Earth - Sun. The orbit period is 4332.82 Earth days or 11.86 Earth years. The surface temperature is -108°C.
The first record of the giant planet was 7th or 8th century BC and recorded by Babylonian astronomers. Jupiter is named after the king of the Roman gods. To the Greeks, it represented Zeus, the god of thunder. The Mesopotamians saw Jupiter as the god Marduk and patron of the city of Babylon. Germanic tribes saw this planet as Donar, or Thor.
Jupiter has the shortest day of all the planets. It turns on its axis once every 9 hours and 55 minutes. The rapid rotation flattens the planet slightly, giving it an oblate shape. Jupiter orbits the Sun once every 11.8 Earth years. From our point of view on Earth, it appears to move slowly in the sky, taking months to move from one constellation to another.
Jupiter has unique cloud features. The upper atmosphere of Jupiter is divided into cloud belts and zones. They are made primarily of ammonia crystals, sulfur, and mixtures of the two compounds. The Great Red Spot is a huge storm on Jupiter. It has raged for at least 350 years. It is so large that three Earths could fit inside it. Jupiter’s interior is made of rock, metal, and hydrogen compounds. Below Jupiter’s massive atmosphere, which is made primarily of hydrogen, there are layers of compressed hydrogen gas, liquid metallic hydrogen, and a core of ice, rock, and metals.
Jupiter’s moon Ganymede is the largest moon in the solar system. Jupiter’s moons are sometimes called the Jovian or Galilean satellites, the largest of these are Ganymeade, Callisto Io and Europa. Ganymeade measures 3293 miles or 5268 km across, making it larger than the planet Mercury.
Jupiter has a thin ring system. Its rings are composed mainly of dust particles ejected from some of Jupiter’s smaller worlds during impacts from incoming comets and asteroids. The ring system begins some 57500 miles or 92000 km above Jupiter’s cloud tops and stretches out to more than 140 625 miles or 225 000 km from the planet. They are between 1250 to 7813 miles or between 2000 to 12500 km thick.
Eight spacecraft have visited Jupiter. Pioneer 10 and 11, Voyager 1 and 2, Galileo, Cassini, Ulysses, and New Horizons missions. The Juno mission is on its way to Jupiter and will arrive in July 2016. Other future missions may focus on the Jovian or Galilean moons Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, and their subsurface oceans.
As mentioned, Jupiter has at least 67 Moons in orbit. It is the largest number of natural satellites around any of the planets. Jupiter’s 4 largest moons; Ganymede, Callisto, Io and Europa are known as the Galilean Moons, named after their discoverer Galileo Galilei. They were also observed at about the same time by astronomer Simon Marius.
So besides the Moons Io, Europa, Ganymede & Callisto, we have the inner Moons Metis, Adrastea, Amalthea & Thebe. The other Moons are Themisto, Leda, Himalia, Lysithea, Elara, S/2000 J 11, Carpo, S/2003 J 12, Euporie, S/2003 J 3, S/2003 J 18, S/2011 J 1, S/2010 J 2, Thelxinoe, Euanthe, Helike, Orthosie, Iocaste, S/2003 J 16, Praxidike, Harpalyke, Mneme, Hermippe, Thyone, Ananke, Herse, Aitne, Kale, Taygete, S/2003 J 19, Chaldene, S/2003 J 15, S/2003 J 10, S/2003 J 23, Erinome, Aoede, Kallichore, Kalyke, Carme, Callirrhoe, Eurydome, S/2011 J 2, Pasithee, S/2010 J 1, Kore, Cyllene, Eukelade, S/2003 J 4, Pasiphae, Hegemone, Arche, Isonoe, S/2003 J 9, S/2003 J 5, Sinope, Sponde, Autonoe, Megaclite & S/2003 J 2.
· Jupiter is the largest planet in our Solar system. It is so big that more than 1300 Earths could fit inside it.
· Thick, colorful clouds of deadly poisonous gases surround Jupiter. The quick spinning of the planet whips up the atmosphere, creating the bands around the planet.
· If you were to descend into Jupiter, the thin, cold atmosphere becomes thicker and hotter, gradually turning into a thick, dark fog. In the blackness about 625 miles or 1000 km down the pressure squeezes the atmosphere so hard that it becomes like liquid.
· At the center of Jupiter is a rocky core, slightly bigger than Earth but weighing about 20 times more.
· Surrounding the core is an ocean of liquid hydrogen, about 625 miles or 1000 km deep.
· Jupiter has many storms raging on the surface, most notably the big red spot which is the largest hurricane in our Solar System. It's been raging for over three hundred years.
· Jupiter has a very strong magnetic field. You would weigh two and a half times as much as you would on Earth.
· Jupiter has many Moons circling around it. Four of these Moons are bigger than Pluto.
· Jupiter is the vacuum cleaner of the Solar System. It sucks in comets, asteroids and meteorites which could be on a collision course for Earth. The comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, was pulled apart by Jupiter's gravity and eventually collided with the planet in 1994.
· Jupiter is the planet with the strongest pull of gravity in the Solar System. If we were able to stand on the surface of Jupiter, we would weigh three times as much as we would weigh on Earth. The only other object in the Solar System with a stronger pull of gravity is the Sun.
· Jupiter's gravity is used to catapult spacecraft on deep space missions further away. This is how the Voyager missions of 1975 managed to succeed.
· Jupiter does not experience seasons like other planets such as Earth and Mars. This is because the axis is only tilted by 3.13 degrees.