{"id":685,"date":"2021-10-01T04:39:31","date_gmt":"2021-10-01T04:39:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/?p=685"},"modified":"2021-10-01T04:39:31","modified_gmt":"2021-10-01T04:39:31","slug":"october-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/october-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"October 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Venus<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Venus\nis just outside the Libra diamond on the east side when the sun sets\non October 1st<\/sup>.\nFor northern hemisphere observers, the planet sets not long after\nsunset despite being at its greatest elongation later this month. The\nplanet moves eastward into Scorpius, coming close to Dschubba on the\n9th<\/sup>.\nA thin young moon passes by that evening. Venus passes Alniyat on the\n14th<\/sup>\nand Antares on the 16th<\/sup>.\nThen it’s on to the space below Ophiuchus. The planet is at greatest\nelongation 47.0\u00b0 east of the sun on the 29th<\/sup>.\nThe point from which the planet shines on the 31st<\/sup>\nis almost directly between us and the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Venus<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mercury\nstarts the month in the evening sky. On the 1st<\/sup>,\nit’s next to Spica. Viewers from around 22\u00b0 south get the best view\nwith the objects setting about an hour after the sun. The messenger\nplanet is just left of the star about 1.5\u00b0 from it. Northern\nhemisphere viewers shouldn’t expect to see Mercury just yet. Wait\nuntil about the middle of the month and look for it in the morning.\nAs the sun passes through Virgo and Mercury through inferior\nconjunction, the planet becomes a morning object that will pause near\nPorrima for a few days and then head eastward through Virgo again on\na path north of Spica. Mercury reaches greatest elongation 18.4\u00b0\nwest of the sun on the 25th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mercury<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Jupiter\nand Saturn remain in Capricornus. The former makes a triangle with\nDeneb Algedi and Nashira. The latter is south of Algedi and Dabih.\nSaturn is practically stationary all month, but careful observation\nwith binoculars or a telescope will help you see it change from\nretrograde to direct motion on the 11th<\/sup>.\nJupiter is retrograde for the first half of the month, then is nearly\nstationary for a week, and in more noticeable direct motion again by\nthe 25th<\/sup>.\nThe actual date it resumes direct motion is the 18th<\/sup>.\nSee the waxing gibbous moon pass near Saturn on the 13th<\/sup>\nand 14th<\/sup>\nand Jupiter on the 14th<\/sup>\nand 15th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Jupiter<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Where’s\nMars this month? Too close to the sun to see. It’s in solar\nconjunction on the 8th<\/sup>.\nNASA will pass a few weeks without any communication with its\nPerseverance rover because the sun is a great source of radio noise.\nIt won’t be possible to send or receive information between Earth and\nMars with the sun in or very close to the line of sight. Perseverance\nwill take measurements and perform a few tasks and then report\nwhatever data it has when communication is reestablished<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of\nthe meteor showers known in October, the Draconids and the Orionids\noffer the best prospects. Watch for the Draconids on the 8th<\/sup>.\nThe shower has a sharp peak. That means you shouldn’t expect to see\nmany before or after the peak which may favor European and Asian\nobservers this year. Most years, the shower produces fewer than ten\nmeteors per hour. But some observers in Europe were treated to a rate\nof 600 per hour in 2011. They radiate from Draco, a constellation\npartly circling the Little Dipper and the north celestial pole. The\nhigh declination means you can see the meteors all night from middle\nto high northern latitudes. It’s probably not impossible for you to\nsee a Draconid meteor in the southern hemisphere, but it would be\nunusual and you’d have a hard time figuring out if its path traces\nback to Draco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nOrionids peak on the 21st<\/sup>.\nThe moon will be just past full, so you shouldn’t expect to see\nanything but the brightest that morning. On the other hand, this\nshower has a broad peak. You could see some Orionids a week or two\nbefore the peak while the moon isn’t in the morning sky but Orion is\nhigh. And given the constellation’s position on the celestial\nequator, this meteor shower is for northern and southern hemisphere\nsky watchers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nmoon’s circumstances in October: The moon is new and crossing the\nequator going south on the 6th<\/sup>.\nIt’s at perigee on the 8th<\/sup>\nat a distance of 363,400 km. Southern lunistice is on the 12th<\/sup>\nat 26.2\u00b0. First quarter is the next day. It goes north of the\nequator on the 19th<\/sup>,\nis full on the 20th<\/sup>,\nand reaches apogee on the 24th<\/sup>\nat 405,600 km. Northern lunistice is on the 26th<\/sup>\nat 26.3\u00b0. Last quarter is on the 28th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Venus is just outside the Libra diamond on the east side when the sun sets on October 1st. For northern hemisphere observers, the planet sets not long after sunset despite being at its greatest elongation later this month. The planet moves eastward into Scorpius, coming close to Dschubba on the 9th. A thin young moon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-60"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=685"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":690,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685\/revisions\/690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}