Skywatch Line for Monday, and Tuesday, October 28th and 29th, written by Joe Slomka

This is the Skywatch Line for Monday, and Tuesday, October 28th and 29th, written by Joe Slomka.

The Sun sets at 5:53 PM; night falls at 7:28. Dawn begins at 5:51 AM and ends with the Sun rising at 7:27.

Eastern Virgo housed the Moon on both days. Monday’s 25-day-old Moon rose at 3:31 AM and set at 4:20 PM, making the Moon concealed for night. Tuesday finds the Moon rising at 4:33 AM, at 5 AM it is 4° high, 29 arc-minutes in size, 8% illuminated and sets at 4:37 PM. Wednesday’s Moon rises at 5:34 AM, 4° high, 3% lit and close to the eastern horizon.

Elusive Mercury appears in southwestern Libra; rises at 9:02 AM, highest at 1:43 PM, at 6 PM shines with minus 3rd magnitude, 5 arc-seconds, 88% lit, 4° at 6 PM and sets at 6:25 PM. Ophiuchus reveals Venus and comet C/2023 A3. Venus lies 20° to Mercury’s lower left, blazes with minus 4th magnitude, 37 arc-seconds, rises at 10:47 AM, highest at 3:10 PM, 10° high, 78% lit and sets at 7:33 PM. Comet C/2023 A3 rises at 9:52 AM, highest at 4:09 PM, glows with 5th magnitude, 67% lit, 40° high and sets at 10:26 PM.

Southeastern Saturn, in Aquarius, emerges at 3:57 PM, highest at 9:23 PM, glows with zero magnitude, 18 arc-seconds, 21° at 6 PM and sets at 2:53 AM. Neptune, in Pisces, is 14° above Saturn, rises at 4:25 PM, 2 arc-seconds, highest at 10:16 PM, 17° high and sets at 4:10 AM.

Western Taurus shares Uranus and Jupiter. Uranus rises at 6:44 PM, shines with 5th magnitude, 3 arc-seconds, highest at 2:01 AM, 44° at 5 AM and sets at 9:14 AM. Jupiter rises a 8:02 PM, 2nd magnitude, a large 45 arc-seconds, highest at 3:37 AM, 63° high and sets at 11:13 AM; the only event of note is the Great Red Spot (a giant storm) at 1:08 AM Tuesday. Mars, 37° from Jupiter, witnesses Gemini crossing the border to Cancer, rises at 10:49 PM, zero magnitude, 9 arc-seconds, highest at 6:20 AM, 63° high and sets at 1:51 PM. Tuesday, you will find Casper, Pollux and Mars in a row.

Cancer is an unusual constellation; its brightest feature is not a star, but a cluster of stars. If you live away from city lights, the first thing you see is a hazy patch in the middle of the constellation. This is M-44, the Beehive Cluster. When observed in binoculars or low power telescope, it resolves into hundreds of stars. These are born out of a common gas cloud and are found in the spiral arms of our Milky Way galaxy.