Skywatch Line for Friday, October 13, through Sunday, October 15, 2023

This is Dudley Observatory’s Skywatch Line for Friday, October 13, through Sunday, October 15, written by Sam Salem.

On Friday, Sun rises at 7:06am and sets at 6:16pm; Moon rises at 5:50am and sets at 5:56pm.

Annular eclipse of the Sun on Saturday. The path of annularity crosses Oregon, northern Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, west-central and southern Texas, Central America, Colombia, and Brazil. Meanwhile, a partial solar eclipse will be seen over a much wider area: practically all of North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean. On Saturday, the solar eclipse day, the new Moon occurs at 1:55 pm.

Venus, brilliant at magnitude –4.6 in the constellation of Leo, is as high as it’s going to get as the “Morning Star.” Look east before and during dawn. Venus rises more than two hours before dawn’s first light. Watch Regulus pass Venus moving day by day from Venus’s lower left to upper right.

Jupiter, at magnitude –2.8 in the constellation of Aries, rises in the east-northeast in late twilight. Jupiter dominates the eastern sky later in the evening and shines highest in the south during the early-morning hours. It’s on its way to opposition November 2nd.

Saturn, at magnitude +0.6 in the dim constellation of Aquarius, is the brightest object in the southeast in twilight. It shines at a good height for telescopic viewing as early as 8pm now and is highest in the south around 10. Fomalhaut twinkles two fists at arm’s length below it, and Altair shines about four fists to Saturn’s upper right.

Vega is the brightest star high in the west these evenings. Less high in the southwest is Altair, not quite as bright. Just upper right of Altair, by a finger-width at arm’s length, is little orange Tarazed. Down from Tarazed runs the stick-figure backbone of the constellation Aquila, the Eagle, along the Milky Way.

There are three bright stars you might notice flashing or twinkling fiercely in the October night. They are, Capella in Auriga, Arcturus in Boötes, and Sirius in Canis Major.

Capella shines at magnitude 0.24, making it the sixth-brightest star in Earth’s sky, not including our Sun. And it’s low in the sky, in the northeast direction, at nightfall or early evening as seen from mid-northern locations at this time of year. Capella flashes red, blue and green when it’s close to the horizon and seen through a thick layer of Earth’s atmosphere. Close to Capella are a pair of stars known as The Kids, baby goats that the Charioteer carries. Auriga houses three star clusters, easy targets to hunt down with binoculars. The three birghtest open clusters are M36,M37, and M38, all of which are visible in binoculars or a small telescope. A larger telescope resolves individual stars.

Deneb has replaced Vega as the zenith star after nightfall. Capricornus has replaced Sagittarius as the zodiacal constellation low in the south.