Skywatch Line for Monday and Tuesday, October 7th and 8th, written by Joe Slomka
This is the Skywatch Line for Monday and Tuesday, October 7th and 8th, written by Joe Slomka.
The Sun sets at 6:25 PM; night falls at 7:59. Dawn begins at 5:27 AM and ends with the Sun rising at 7:01.
Monday’s 4-day-old southwestern Moon appears in Scorpius, rises at 12:01 PM, appears 30 arc-minutes is size, 11° high, 23% lit and sets at 8:35 PM. Tuesday, the southern Moon shifts to Ophiuchus, rises at 1:04 PM, 14° high, same size, 32% illuminated and sets at 9:21 PM.
Venus still occupies southwestern Libra, 33° from the Sun, blazes with minus 4th magnitude, 12 arc-seconds, and 83% illuminated; Venus is only 6° high and sets at 7:39 PM.
Saturn, in eastern Aquarius, rises at 5:22 PM, zero magnitude, 19 arc-seconds, highest at 10:49, 17° high at 7 PM and sets at 4:21 AM. Neptune, in Pisces, stands 14° above Saturn, 8th magnitude, 2 arc-seconds, rises at 5:49 PM, 13° high at 7 PM, highest at 11:40 PM and sets at 5:35 AM. Dwarf Planet 1Ceres remains in southern Sagittarius, faint 9th magnitude, 97% lit, rises at 2:49 PM, highest at 6:43 PM, 17° high and sets at 10:37 PM. Monday, dusk finds the lunar crescent 2° to Antares’ left; the view improves as twilight deepens.
Western Taurus hosts Uranus and Jupiter. Uranus rises at 8:09 PM, 5th magnitude, 3 arc-seconds, highest at 3:26 AM and 44° high at 6:30 PM. Jupiter, 24° from Uranus, rises at 9:38 PM, radiant with minus 2nd magnitude, 43 arc-seconds, highest at 5:10 AM, 63° at 6:30 AM. Tuesday, Jovian moon Io begins an eclipse at 10:39 PM; the Great Red Spot (a giant storm) begins at 10:50 PM. Wednesday finds Ganymede occulted (eclipsed) at 1:27 AM, Io’s eclipse ends at 2:04 AM and Ganymede’s occultation ends at 3:28 AM. Wednesday finds Jupiter stationary and soon begins retrograde motion.
Mars ends the parade, 27° from Jupiter, in Gemini, shines with zero magnitude, 7 arc-seconds, rises at 11:33 PM, is highest at 7:07 AM, 69° at 6:30 AM and 88% illuminated.
Both Mercury and Comet C/2023 are too close to the Sun for observation.
Wednesday marks the 32th anniversary of a car accident; the cause of this fender-bender was unusual. On October 9, 1992, a fireball (very bright meteor) streaked through the sky. Sixteen different cameras were recording high school football games and videotaped it. The meteorite crashed into Michelle Knapp’s Chevy Malibu, in Peekskill New York, totaling it. Although the annual Draconid meteor shower was happening, the meteor’s origin remains uncertain. Multiple recordings provided scientists with a rare opportunity to actually determine the meteorite’s track. Ms. Knapp sold both the meteorite and damaged car to collectors. The 4.4-billion-year-old football-sized rock weighted 26 pounds, part of a broken-up asteroid. The stony meteorite is about twenty percent nickel-iron. Specimens of the Peekskill Meteorite can be seen in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, the Smithsonian and Chicago’s Field Museum.
Clear Skies Joe Slomka