October Sky Notes

NASA has announced that its Artemis II mission to the Moon will likely be launched in February next year. Thus mission will carry the first woman and first person of colour to enter into Lunar orbit.  Although the mission will not actually land on the Moon, it will test the new technologies used in the spacecraft. The astronauts will also perform many observations and experiments whilst on their way to the Moon such as how the human body reacts (mentally and physically) in extended periods of weightlessness and effects of cosmic radiation on the body. Experiments to observe how plants cope with these conditions are also planned with the idea of a permanent Lunar Base in mind.

The mission got the go ahead during Donald Trump’s first Presidency and was also supported by Joe Biden’s administration. Despite NASA having its funding cut by 25% the Artemis mission has been “ring-fenced” to go ahead, mostly because President Trump wants to beat the Chinese and Russians, who are also planning a joint Lunar Base of their own.

October 4th has been designated International Observe the Moon Night in an initiative promoted by NASA and Torbay Astronomical Society is taking part by opening the observatory and a number of other telescopes for public use from 7.30pm that evening. The Moon will be a waxing gibbous and so quite bright. Many large craters and Lunar mountain ranges will be visible, as will a number of the Lunar Mare or “seas”. It will also be possible to point out the landing site of the first Lunar Landing of Apollo 11 back in 1969.

Having unveiled a Blue Plaque last month, the Torbay Astronomical Society is continuing with its 70th Anniversary celebrations. We are looking forward to our next highlight in December when society Patron, Professor Chris Lintott, presenter of BBC’s “Sky at Night” programme and Gresham Professor of Astronomy, returns to his home town to give a PUBLIC LECTURE at Torquay Boys’ Grammar School, where he was a pupil. The talk will be entitled “100 Years of Discovery: Astronomy in 1955 and 2055”. Tickets for this event, book here

Sky Notes

Sky Schedule

Please note all times given in this article are in GMT so remember to add an hour to get the time in BST.

Sun: From the beginning to the end of the month the period of dark sky increases from 8.5 hours to over 10 hours.  The longer nights allow us to view the summer constellations and the Milky Way that runs through them against a dark sky whilst also introducing the Autumn constellations and the interesting objects in them.  

Mercury:  Mercury is not visible this month as it lies in the same direction as the Sun.

Venus:  Venus lies in the same direction as the Sun and will gradually be seen in the morning skies.

Mars:  Mars is not visible this month as it lies in the same direction as the Sun.

Jupiter:  The largest planet rises around midnight in the constellation of Gemini and will be visible until sunrise.  The coloured bands and zones on the surface of the planet can be distinguished with small telescopes as can the Great Red Spot, a colossal hurricane, greater in diameter than the planet Earth. The Galilean moons can be seen with a good pair of binoculars or a small (bird-spotting) telescope.  DSLR images of the planet will also pick up the moons.  These moons orbit Jupiter such that we sometimes see them pass between the Earth and the giant planet along our line of sight.  

Saturn: The ringed planet rises around sunset and is visible throughout the night against the background stars of Pisces, The rings are currently opening from edge-on to us and remain difficult  to see.  Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, can be seen with a good pair of binoculars or a small telescope.  On 6th the almost Full Moon will lie close to Saturn.

Uranus and Neptune: Uranus is visible all night long throughout October and is seen against the background stars of Taurus below the Pleiades star cluster.  It is now only a telescope object as it is receding in distance from the Earth.  Look for a tiny greenish disc compared to the pinpoints which are the stars.  Neptune is seen against the background stars of Pisces and close to Saturn (below the asterism known as the Great Square of Pegasus). Neptune will also require a telescope to find it.  Neptune displays a smaller and truly blue disc compared to that of Uranus although it will appear only as a bluish star to most small instruments.  

Meteor Shower:  There are a number of minor showers that occur during October, none of them expected to produce many bright meteors. However, the Orionid shower can produce a Maximum rate of anything between 20 and 100 meteors per hour.  These meteors are caused by debris from the comet 1P/Halley and peak on October 21st. This is also the night  of the New Moon so this will present an ideal opportunity to observe these meteors. Observations usually start from 10pm but are best made when the constellation of Orion is in the sky, around 5 am.

Comet:  There are two comets currently predicted to reach naked-eye visibility around the time of the New Moon. The first is the infamous 31/Atlas which will reach its closest point to the Sun on 30th, never coming closer to the Earth than 1.6 AU (1.6 times the distance from the Earth to the Sun).The second is comet C/2025 A6 (LEMMON), which has been observed on its route through the Solar System.

Moon: Full Moon occurs on October 7th with Last Quarter on 13th, Newl Moon then follows on 21st   October and First Quarter on 29th.