The Space Room
Night Sky Events for October 2010
by Anna Sanclement
Moon Phases for October 2010
The New Moon will be on Thursday the 7th, followed by the First Quarter Moon, on Thursday the 15th. This month’s Full Moon comes on Friday the 22nd, with the Last Quarter Moon on Saturday the 30th.
Planet Lineup for October 2010
Jupiter continues to shine throughout this month and can be seen all night. You will see it shortly after the Sun goes down in the southeastern horizon. With binoculars you may be able to see its bigger moons, which will look like stars around the planet.
With a small telescope some of Jupiter features like its cloud belts can be visible, especially when the gas giant is at its highest point in the sky later at night.
In early October, about a half hour after the Sun sets, Venus can be spotted near the western horizon. It is so bright that it can even be seen during twilight. The brilliant planet looks amazing with the naked eye, but with a telescope it really looks dazzling as it appears in a crescent shape. As October progresses, however, Venus starts to set earlier and earlier, until it slips out of sight.
Mars is still hanging on in the west, but it is increasingly hard to see against the bright twilight these days. Binoculars will definitely help spot the small ruddy red dot that is now Mars.
Saturn appears in the early mornings towards the eastern sky after the middle of the month, but its visibility won’t improve much until next month.
Stars, Constellations and Galaxies to view in October
The Pegasus Constellation is high up in the sky in mid October and can be spotted by its signature square shape. Then, a few degrees to the northeast from Pegasus lies the Triangulum Constellation, which of course has a triangular shape. Just west of it, if you have a telescope or live in a dark area, you can spot the Triangulum Galaxy also known as M33.
M33 is one of the galaxies in our Local Group of galaxies and although it is smaller than our own Milky Way galaxy, its shape is very similar to it. Because it is faint, M33 is best viewed with a small telescope in a magnification of 25x.
A bit more to the west of M33 you may spot M31, or the Andromeda galaxy, another one from our group, however, this one is much larger and can easily be seen as a fuzzy patch from dark skies.
Look on up and smile!
Read more of Anna’s articles at:
The Examiner:
http://www.examiner.com/x-30007-Space-News-Examiner
http://www.examiner.com/x-6503-Ft-Lauderdale-Science-News-Examiner
http://www.examiner.com/x-39025-Celebrity-Headlines-Examiner
Suite101:
http://www.suite101.com/profile.cfm/annasanclement
And check out the children’s book she co-published with mom: