Astronomical Society of Eastern Missouri

   Now the nights are cooler and the bright summer stars are setting in the west. For midwestern stargazers the month of  October has more clear nights than any other month.  With the bright stars setting  only one first magnitude star is visible in the southern sky, Fomalhaut, "the solitary one". Look for it almost due south and very low in the sky. It is easy to miss although it is equal in brightness to Pollux in Gemini, that is low in the eastern sky after midnight.

   At 8:38 P.M. the night of October ninth, 1997, is the first time I observed the phenomenon of Arcturus setting in the west and Capella rising in the east. Because they are near to the horizon Arcturus seems to drop like it is falling, while at the same time Capella, which flashes in bright multicolors leaps upward into the sky. For a short time it is hard to convince someone that it is really a star, a plane or a UFO seems more plausible. If you haven’t observed this go where there is a clear horizon and enjoy.

   Although there are few bright stars there are a lot of interesting objects, many suitable for binoculars. Pegasus and Andromeda have several. Look for the globular cluster at the end of Pegasus’s nose. The last two stars in the great square of Pegasus, Algenib and Alpheratz, are just above where the ecliptic crosses the celestial equator. This is the spot that marks the Spring, or Vernal, equinox. Interesting for those that use celestial coordinates Algenib and Alpheratz both have right ascensions of 00 deg. East of them the numbers start going up. Andromeda has of course M 31 the great spiral galaxy ra 00Oct. 42.7m.,and a very interesting binary star Almaak with a ra of 02 deg. 

   October sixteenth thru the twenty-seventh gives us the Orionid meteor shower. We earthlings will pass through the dust left by Halley’s Comet. The twenty-first they will be at their peak, Orion will be low on the eastern horizon at midnight.

   Oct   6  The Moon passes 3 deg north of Venus.

   Oct   7  The Moon, Regulus, Saturn and Venus form a cluster in the eastern sky about 4:30 a.m.

   Oct   8, 9 the Draconids Meteor shower, because they originate from the circum polar area, they are slow 

                   movers. Parent comet Giacobini-Zinner.

   Oct  11   New Moon.

   Oct  12   The moon passes Mercury 8p.m. CDT.

   Oct  16    The Moon passes 5 deg south of Jupiter.

   Oct  20 The Moon passes 1.3 deg south of Neptune. 

     Oct  21  Orionid Meteor shower peaks.

   Oct 26   Full Moon.

   Oct 28   Venus at greatest western elongation.

Skies had been very kind to Marv and the Trull’s on Monday night, and it continued to be fortunate for us on Tuesday night.

A stream of kids started coming out at 7:30 to see the moon and Jupiter, and they finished at just after 9:30 with about 90 kids along with approximately 15 teachers and couselors looking thru 4 scopes. Scopes were provided by Marvin Stewart, John Sgouros, and myself. The kids came out in 3 groups of 30, and then subdivided further at the 4 scopes.

(more…)

What a difference a month makes! Just over a month ago this event was in the sweltering heat. This time we had to reach for jackets and sweatshirts.

(more…)