{"id":23365,"date":"2021-09-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=23365"},"modified":"2021-10-22T11:44:16","modified_gmt":"2021-10-22T11:44:16","slug":"october-highlights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/2021\/09\/16\/october-highlights\/","title":{"rendered":"October highlights"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This month\u2019s stargazing and imaging at a glance<\/p>\n\n

Saturday<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

2 <\/span><\/strong>The beautiful Andromeda<\/span> Galaxy, M31, is located at its highest position, due south against dark skies around 01:00 BST (00:00 UT) at the moment. View it through binoculars and see whether you can pick out its satellite galaxies M32 and M110.<\/p>\n\n

Sunday<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

3<\/strong> This morning, mag. +3.5 Eta (\u03b7)<\/span> Leonis will be occulted by a 13%-lit waning crescent Moon. Those in the far north will see the star pass close to the Moon\u2019s northern limb.<\/span> Observe from 04:35\u201305:20 BST (03:35\u201304:20 UT).<\/p>\n\n

Monday <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

4<\/strong> Today offers a rare chance to<\/span> catch Ganymede and Callisto casting shadows on Jupiter at the same time. Callisto\u2019s shadow begins its transit from 18:00 BST (17:00 UT). Ganymede\u2019s shadow transit starts at 19:50 BST (18:50 UT). <\/span><\/p>\n\n

Tuesday <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

5<\/strong> Look towards the east from 06:00<\/span> BST (05:00 UT) and you might see a 1%-lit waning crescent Moon rising this morning. Optimally positioned, the Moon rises 100 minutes before the Sun.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Thursday<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

7<\/strong> A thin 2%-lit waxing crescent Moon may<\/span> be seen low above the west-southwest horizon shortly after sunset.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Friday<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

8<\/strong> The peak of the Draconids occurs<\/span> today. Although the meteor shower has a ZHR (zenithal hourly rate) of five meteors per hour, it has shown unexpected activity in recent years, with a ZHR of 150 over a four-hour period in 2018. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

Saturday <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

9<\/strong> A 14%-lit waxing crescent Moon<\/span> meets mag. \u20134.1 Venus this evening, appearing 2.1\u00b0 apart. Look for the pair low above the southwest horizon shortly after sunset. Mag. +2.3 Dschubba (Delta (\u03b4) Scorpii), sits 50 arcminutes northeast of Venus.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Sunday<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

10<\/strong> The peak of the Southern T<\/strong>aurid meteor shower occurs today. Although it has a low peak ZHR of just five meteors per hour, the peak is broad and sometimes has slow bright trails.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Wednesday <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

13 <\/strong>within <\/strong>lunar crater Ptolemaeus this evening. The shadows create a shape reminiscent of the Loch Ness Monster\u2019s head and neck.<\/span> Look out for Nessie around 19:45 BST (18:45 UT). An unusual clair-obscur effect occurs<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Thursday<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

14<\/strong> The now 67%-lit waxing gibbous <\/strong>Moon <\/strong>sits south of Saturn and Jupiter this evening, forming a triangle in Capricornus, the Sea Goat.<\/span> The clair-obscur effect known as the Eyes of Clavius is visible around 19:30 BST (18:30 UT).<\/p>\n\n

Friday<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

15<\/strong> The Jewelled <\/strong>obscur effect (a semicircle of light caused by the Moon\u2019s Jura mountains catching the light of a lunar dawn) is visible around midnight tonight, as the Moon approaches the southwest horizon, near mag. \u20132.5 Jupiter.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Thursday<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

21<\/strong> The peak of the Orionids occurs, but it\u2019s marred by a Moon that\u2019s just-past full. Jupiter\u2019s moons Callisto and Io transit the gas giant\u2019s disc together, starting at 00:30 BST (23:30 UT on 20 October). <\/span><\/p>\n\n

Monday<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

25<\/strong> Mercury is at its greatest western elongation today, appearing separated from the Sun by 18.4\u00b0 in the morning sky. Shining at mag. \u20130.5, Mercury rises nearly two hours before the Sun.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Thursday<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

28<\/strong> Moon <\/strong>rises around 23:30 BST (22:30 Tonight\u2019s last quarter<\/span> UT). Once it\u2019s up see if you can spot the Beehive Cluster 2.7\u00b0 to the south-southwest. Binoculars should fit both objects in the same field of view comfortably.<\/p>\n\n

Friday <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

29 <\/strong>Venus reaches greatest eastern elongation, appearing separated from the Sun by 47\u00b0 in the evening sky. Despite this, Venus\u2019s position isn\u2019t optimal at present and this brilliant mag. \u20134.3 planet sets a little over 1.5 hours after the Sun.<\/p>\n\n

Sunday<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

31<\/strong> British Summer Time ends this morning at 2am BST, when the clocks go back to 1am GMT (01:00 UT).<\/p>\n\n

<\/div>
\n
Family stargazing<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Jupiter is currently bright and well positioned, an easy naked-eye planet. It reaches its highest position due south at 10pm BST on 1 October, at 9pm BST on 15 October and 7pm UT on 31 October. This is a great planet to observe with a telescope. Point out its flattened globe, due to its rapid rotation, and the two dark stripes that run parallel to the equator. The four largest moons stand out well too and are easy for young eyes to see. Try for some of the moon shadow events listed in our calendar \u2013 especially the rare double shadow transit on 4 October. www.bbc.co.uk\/cbeebies\/shows\/stargazing<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n

Need to know<\/h4>\n\n

The terms and symbols used in The Sky Guide<\/p>\n\n

Universal Time (UT) and British Summer Time (BST)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Universal Time (UT) is the standard time used by astronomers around the world. British Summer Time (BST) is one hour ahead of UT<\/p>\n\n

RA (Right ascension) and dec. (declination) <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

These coordinates are the night sky\u2019s equivalent of longitude and latitude, describing where an object is on the celestial \u2018globe\u2019<\/p>\n\n

Family friendly<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

These are sights perfect for showing to children<\/p>\n\n

Naked eye<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Allow 20 minutes for your eyes to become dark-adapted<\/p>\n\n

Small\/medium scope <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Reflector\/SCT under 6 inches, refractor under 4 inches<\/p>\n\n

Large scope<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Reflector\/SCT over 6 inches, refractor over 4 inches<\/p>\n\n

Getting started in astronomy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

If you\u2019re new to astronomy, you\u2019ll find two essential reads on our website. Visit http:\/\/bit.ly\/10_easylessons<\/a><\/strong> for our 10-step guide to getting started and http:\/\/bit.ly\/buy_scope<\/a><\/strong> for advice on choosing a scope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The month\u2019s stargazing and imaging at a glance<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":24399,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"44","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"44","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_44-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_44-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"October-2021","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"October-2021","purple_external_id":"October-2021-44-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"October-2021-44-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000086545||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000086545||","purple_android_product":"com.im.skyatnight.197","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.skyatnight.197","purple_ios_product":"com.im.skyatnight.197","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.skyatnight.197","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"075fab74-0a21-4201-866a-899d6c41c40c","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[14],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/09\/14444926-bdd5-45dc-8486-b2009caa70f4.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"5"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/09\/14444926-bdd5-45dc-8486-b2009caa70f4.jpg",1614,1115,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/09\/14444926-bdd5-45dc-8486-b2009caa70f4-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/09\/14444926-bdd5-45dc-8486-b2009caa70f4-300x207.jpg",300,207,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/09\/14444926-bdd5-45dc-8486-b2009caa70f4-768x531.jpg",768,531,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/09\/14444926-bdd5-45dc-8486-b2009caa70f4-1024x707.jpg",800,552,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/09\/14444926-bdd5-45dc-8486-b2009caa70f4-1536x1061.jpg",1536,1061,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/09\/14444926-bdd5-45dc-8486-b2009caa70f4.jpg",1614,1115,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The month\u2019s stargazing and imaging at a glance","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23365"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23365"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24956,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23365\/revisions\/24956"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}