* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: October 2008

Blobrana · L

Halloween Sky Show
Stop! Take your finger off that doorbell. Something spooky is happening behind your back. Turn around, tip back your mask, and behold the sunset.
It's a Halloween sky show.

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Blobrana · L

Rochester skies will be heavily congested this week, with more than just ghosts, goblins and witches.
First of all, we have the Pleiades Star Cluster, also known as the "Seven Little Sisters," which resembles a tiny Big Dipper. This time of year, it's also referred to as the "Halloween Cluster" because it rises in the east early in the evening and climbs high in the sky around the midnight hour.

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Blobrana · L

Asteroid (4) Vesta is at its closest approach (1.539 AU) to the Earth on Oct. 28.

Our challenge for this month is to locate the asteroid Vesta. It is the second-largest, and brightest, of the asteroids. It will reach opposition on Oct. 28 in the constellation Cetus. Get a star map and use your binoculars to locate it. From its 1807 discovery until 1845, it was classified as a planet. Currently it is classified as an asteroid; however, it may be upgraded to a dwarf planet after NASA's Dawn probe visit in 2011.
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Blobrana · L

In evening dusk, brilliant Venus rides huge Scorpius across the southwest. The red supergiant Antares (heart of the Scorpion) sparkles directly below the Evening Star. They set by mid-evening. Bright golden Jupiter and its four Galilean moons glow above the tilted Sagittarian Teapot 'pouring' onto the Scorpion's stinger tail. Pluto hides above Venus.

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Blobrana · L

Clocks moved one hour backwards.
Sunday 26 October 02:00 BST (01:00 GMT)

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It's that time of year again - the nights are drawing in as British Summer Time comes to an end.
At 2am tomorrow Worcester News readers are reminded that the clocks are going back by one hour, taking you back in time to 1am.

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Blobrana · L

If the night sky is clear sometime over the next week or so, go outside and look straight up. You should be able to see a cross sitting in the middle of the Milky Way. That is, if you can make it out amid the nighttime glare.
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Blobrana · L

On this date in 2137 BC, Two Chinese astronomers were executed for not predicting a solar eclipse that caused national panic.

Blobrana · L

On 2008 Oct 24, 18:54 - 18:56 UT, the 290 km diameter asteroid (3) Juno will occult TYC 5669-00822-1, a 9.7 mag star in the constellation Serpens for observers along a path across Africa.
In the case of an occultation, the combined light of the asteroid and the star will drop by 1.7 mag to 11.1 mag (the magnitude of the asteroid) for at most 9.2 seconds.

Position(2000): RA: 17 49 11.2579 Dec: -12 59 18.130

Source

Blobrana · L

Orion makes a preview
If you dont like the cold, lets not hurry up winter, but one of the most amazing constellations of all is Orion, the crown jewels of the winter evening sky. You can get a sneak preview tonight, in the relative warmth of autumn and with the crunch of leaves underfoot rather than your boots in the snow.
Wait till about 11 p.m. during mid- to late October, and face due east. Hopefully you will see more than I probably will, since like most people, the horizon outside the house is far from flat. You need to find a place with a low, flat eastern horizon, perhaps on your neighbourhood prairie...

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