The Brightest Planets in October’s Night Sky: How to See them (and When) [bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]

The Brightest Planets in October’s Night Sky: How to See them (and When) [bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]

Mars fades over the course of October, but will remain visible and bright red in the evening southwestern sky. Mars is moving eastward through Sagittarius.

This month, four bright planets engage in a pair of conjunctions. Here’s how to see these planets, which will be visible to the naked eye.

At dawn during the first 10 days of October, Mercury basically stands alone low in the eastern sky, but come Oct. 11, Jupiter joins Mercury, passing less than a degree to the right of the smaller planet and presenting the month’s first conjunction of two planets. Soon after that, Mercury relinquishes its morning visibility. Meanwhile, it takes virtually the entire month to set up the other conjunction in the evening sky: Venus, slowly edging up into prominence low in the southwest sky, catches up to Saturn on Oct. 27. 

Like Mercury and Jupiter’s conjunction, Venus and Saturn’s meeting is a tale of two planets going in opposite directions. Lustrous Venus will evolve into a spectacular evening star in the coming weeks and months, while Saturn fades into the fire of sunset in November. Mars, the one naked-eye planet that does not interact with another this month, shifts away from Saturn and stands alone in the south-southwest sky at dusk, continuing to slowly fade as it recedes from Earth. [Moon Phases and 3 Meteor Showers in Oct. 2016 – Where to Look (Skywatching Video)]

Here, we present a schedule which provides some of the best planet-viewing times and directs you where to look to see these sights. Remember that when measuring the angular separation between two celestial objects, your clenched fist held at arm’s length measures roughly 10 degrees.

 

Mercury starts October still quite observable if you look low in the east, about 45 minutes before sunrise. The planet also shines quite brightly, close to magnitude -1. But after the first week of October, viewers at midnorthern latitudes will find this rocky little world troublesomely low in the sky’s bright twilight. 

At the same time that Mercury is going down, Jupiter is coming up. On the morning of Oct. 11, Mercury will pass less than a degree from Jupiter, the pair appearing very low above the eastern horizon about 30 to 40 minutes before sunrise. Binoculars will be useful to pick the two planets out against the bright twilight sky. After the 11th, Mercury disappears into the twilight glow, passing through superior conjunction (on the far side of the sun) and entering the evening sky.

Venus will be visible near the crescent moon Oct. 3, 2016. Here, it’s shown at 7 p.m. local time.

Credit: Starry Night Software

Venus is in the evening sky. Check out the west-southwest sky about 30 minutes after sunset on Oct. 3, and you’ll see the dazzling planet (magnitude -3.9). And 5 degrees above it, you’ll see a slender sliver (8-percent illuminated) of a crescent moon, just two and half days past new phase. Venus continues its frustratingly slow increase in altitude and visibility at dusk (for observers at midnorthern latitudes), a process that began last July. 

On Oct. 5, binoculars or a small telescope will show the wide double star Alpha (α) Librae, also known as Zubenelgenubi, less than 1 degree above Venus. On Oct. 20, Venus passes less than 1 degree north (upper right) of the 2nd-magnitude star Delta (δ) Scorpii, also known as Dschubba. Then, on the 26th, Venus passes 3.1 degrees north of the ruddy star Antares (only 1 percent as bright). Use binoculars to catch a glimpse. Lastly, on the 29th, look for a much dimmer Saturn sitting 3 degrees to the upper right of Venus. A telescope will show Venus’s dazzling little globe as distinctly less than fully lit. 

Mars can be readily identified on Oct. 8 by using the moon as a landmark. Just hours from first-quarter phase, the moon will appear almost due south as darkness falls. Far to its lower right, the fading planet Mars will shine; Mars travels eastward across the stars of Sagittarius during October, altering the familiar teapot pattern in the process. 

On Oct. 6, Mars will pass just 0.2 degrees to the lower right of Kaus Borealis, the star that marks the top of the teapot, and on Oct. 15, the Red Planet will sit 1.3 degrees above Nunki, the brightest star in the teapot’s handle. As Mars continues to recede from Earth this month, the nearby planet will fade from 0.1 to +0.4 in magnitude, while its reddish disk continues to shrink. [2016 Moon Phases Calendar]

Mercury will be only 0.8 degrees north (to the left) of Jupiter the morning of Monday, Oct. 11. Catch the two planets between 6:30 a.m. and 7 a.m. local time, when the sun rises and obscures them.

Credit: Starry Night software

Jupiter is rather difficult to see as October opens. Look for “Big Jupe,” at magnitude -1.7, low in the east midway through morning twilight. Each morning thereafter, however, the planet rises earlier and manages to climb higher in the east before being overwhelmed by the brightening dawn. 

And here is a tale of two planets, Mercury and Jupiter, passing each other in the morning twilight. Mercury is well into the process of exiting the morning sky, while Jupiter is getting increasingly well-placed for viewing. On the morning of Oct. 11, the two planets engage in a rather tight conjunction, rising side by side and separated by 3/4 of a degree, Jupiter on the right and Mercury on the left. Look for them 5 degrees above the horizon about a half hour before sunrise. You’ll enhance your odds of making a sighting by using binoculars. 

On Oct. 28, early risers will be rewarded with a fairly striking conjunction between a very thin waning crescent moon (only 5 percent illuminated) and Jupiter. Look very low toward the east-southeast horizon around 6 a.m. local daylight time: The two bodies ascend the sky side by side, Jupiter situated about 1 degree to the right of the moon.

Saturn will be visible in the southwestern sky after sunset during October, above the constellation Scorpius.

Credit: Starry Night software

Saturn will engage in a conjunction with a slender crescent moon (20 percent illuminated) on Oct. 5. Look for Earth’s satellite sitting about a half dozen degrees to the left of the planet Saturn low in the southwest sky about 45 minutes after sunset. 

During October, Saturn glimmers into view as darkness falls, followed a few minutes later by the slightly dimmer reddish star Antares about 6 degrees below it. Saturn sets 3 hours behind the sun early in the month, 2 hours after sunset at month’s end. The ringed planet is now at its faintest for this year, magnitude +0.5, and is more than 87 light-minutes away. Both Saturn and Antares will vanish into the twilight next month. 

Finally, on Oct. 29, starting about 45 minutes after sunset, look low near the southwest horizon for a conjunction between Venus and Saturn. The smaller planet will sit 3 degrees to the lower left of Saturn but will out-dazzle the ringed world more than 25-fold.

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York’s Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the Farmer’s Almanac and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, N.Y. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

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http://www.space.com/33619-visible-planets-guide.html The Brightest Planets in October's Night Sky: How to See them (and When)

[bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]The Brightest Planets in October’s Night Sky: How to See them (and When)