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The sky in October

Natural History, Oct, 2002 by Joe Rao

Mercury rises ahead of the Sun all month. It's best seen during the second and third weeks of October, just above the eastern horizon about half an hour before sunrise. Also around this time, the much dimmer Mars is nearby. The two planets are closest on the 10th, when Mars hovers less than 3[degrees] above and to the right of Mercury. Shining at magnitude -0.3, Mercury reaches greatest elongation, 18[degrees] west of the Sun, on October 13. Mercury continues to brighten steadily thereafter; on October 27 it reaches magnitude -1.0. Also on this date, Mercury passes 4[degrees] north of the bluish first-magnitude star Spica, in Virgo.

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Venus starts the month low in the west-southwest during evening twilight. It sets only about seventy minutes after the Sun on the 1st and about three minutes earlier each evening thereafter. By the 13th, Venus sets only half an hour after the Sun. Venus is now a narrow crescent, visible with a small telescope or even with good, firmly braced binoculars. Look for the enormous slender crescent as soon as the planet appears, while it is still set against a bright sky. Because Venus is so brilliant (at magnitude -4.3), it may be visible at, or even before, sundown.

Mars treads the dawn in early October. It's in the east one and a half hours before sunrise. By month's end, it rises half an hour earlier in a fully dark sky. On the morning of the 4th, the planet will be roughly 10[degrees] below a slender crescent Moon. The red planet also has a rendezvous with Mercury on the morning of the 10th. At the beginning of October, Mars is 242 million miles from Earth and, at magnitude +1.8, is relatively dim. Nonetheless, this marks the start of a most dramatic and spectacular Martian apparition. By late August 2003, it will be 208 million miles closer, appear more than six times larger, and shine some forty-six times brighter than it does this month.

Jupiter, in Cancer, the Crab, rises about five hours before sunrise early in October. By the end of the month--when standard time resumes--it rises at about 11:30 P.M. local time. The Moon passes well north of Jupiter on the morning of October 2.

Saturn is still prominent in the faint club of Orion, the Hunter. The planet appears in the east-northeast about four hours after sunset on October 1 and about ninety minutes earlier by month's end. At dawn, it stands high in the south-southwest. The Moon slides 3[degrees] north of Saturn on the morning of the 26th.

The Moon wanes to new on October 6 at 7:18 A.M. Less than two hours later, our satellite arrives at perigee (its position closest to Earth), 221,789 miles away. Abnormally large ocean tides should result for a few days around the event. The Moon is at first quarter on the 13th at 1:33 A.M. and waxes full on the 21st at 3:20 A.M. Last-quarter Moon occurs on October 29 at 12:28 A.M. EST.

"Spring ahead, fall back." October 27, the last Sunday of the month, is the day on which clocks must be set back one hour in most areas of the United States and Canada. On this date, the clock hour from 1:00 A.M. to 2:00 A.M. officially repeats.

Unless otherwise noted, all times are given in Eastern Daylight Time.

The sky in October

Natural History, Oct, 2002 by Joe Rao

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