{"id":37905,"date":"2022-10-30T08:05:40","date_gmt":"2022-10-30T08:05:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/?p=113217"},"modified":"2022-10-30T08:24:09","modified_gmt":"2022-10-30T08:24:09","slug":"star-diary-31-october-to-6-november-2022","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/star-diary-31-october-to-6-november-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Star Diary: 31 October to 6 November, 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Ezzy Pearson\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Sunday, 30 October 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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What\u2019s in the night sky of the week of 31 October to 6 November, 2022.<\/p>\n\n

Chris Bramley<\/strong>\u00a0Hello and welcome to Star Diary, the podcast for the makers of BBC Sky at Night Magazine. You can subscribe to the print magazine by visiting www.skyatnightmagazine.com<\/a> or to our digital edition by visiting iTunes or Google Play.<\/p>\n

Ezzy Pearson<\/strong>\u00a0Greetings listeners and welcome to Star Diary<\/a>, a weekly guide to the best things to see in the northern hemisphere\u2019s Night Sky. In this episode, we\u2019ll be covering the coming week from 31st October to 6th November. I\u2019m Ezzy Pearson, the magazine\u2019s features editor, and I\u2019m joined on the podcast today by reviews editor Paul Money. Hello Paul.<\/p>\n

Paul Money <\/strong>Hello there is. Yes, yes. It\u2019s nice to look up the night sky once again for another week.<\/p>\n

Ezzy<\/strong> Absolutely. But before we get started this week, I just want to put out a little reminder to everyone that the clocks have changed here in the UK. They did that on 30th\u00a0 October. So from now on, we\u2019ll be giving all our times in Greenwich Mean Time or UT. However, if you are one of our US listeners, your clocks don\u2019t change until\u00a0 6th November. So just keep that in mind when you\u2019re shifting time zones. We don\u2019t want anybody to miss out on any of the spectacular sights that we have coming up. Speaking of which\u2026 Paul, what are the sites that we can hope to see this week?<\/p>\n

Paul <\/strong>Well, we always cover the moon. We have to! Because it dominates the night sky, doesn\u2019t it? And we begin this way by keeping an eye on it as it starts off low in the evening sky. Now, the first two nights, to be honest, it is quite low. And so we\u2019re looking down towards the light. So a light the towards Scorpius, sorry, Sagittarius into Capricornus. So on the 31st it\u2019s just short of half phase and it\u2019s low in the south in bright twilight around about 5:30 p.m. So it\u2019s always worth keeping an eye on the Moon<\/a>. Watch the Terminator creep across the lunar landscape night after night and later on in the month. Because you can do it over the hours because you can see it physically creeping. And it makes an interesting photographic task as well to show the terminator slowly creeping across the moon. Remember that sort of thing is like dawn on that part of the lunar surface. So they\u2019ll be seeing a wonderful dawn. Very stark, though, with the black sky and the bright sun. So that\u2019s the 31st then, with the Moon very low down sort of thing in the evening twilight about 5:30 p.m. On the 1st, it is actually first quarter moon. And the good news is always like it when these events occur and it\u2019s next to something bright and it is, it\u2019s below Saturn<\/a>. Now Saturn has been dominating that part of the sky. It\u2019s in Capricornus and it\u2019s been moving steadily amongst the stars of Capricornus for several months now. And it is well-placed. It\u2019s nice when they get into the evening sky. We can all enjoy Saturn. It\u2019s not as bright as bright gassy Jupiter. But, you know, Saturn is still there and we\u2019ve got an extra bonus. We\u2019ve got minor planet Vesta as well forming a triangle with them. Although you will need binoculars really for Vesta it is actually quite faint. So you know, if you look around about the South at 7 p.m. on November 1st and so you\u2019ll easily be out to see the Moon, Saturn will be higher above it and then Vesta to slightly to the upper left. So, you know, it\u2019s well worth having a look at. And of course, Saturn with the Rings. I mean, who can\u2019t fall in love with Saturn?<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>I think it\u2019s it\u2019s always nice when you can see three different kinds of Solar System body in the same kind of field of view, because you\u2019ve got the moon there, which is, as the name might suggest, a Moon. You\u2019ve got a planet and a minor planet. A minor world or an asteroid. Some people still call Vesta an asteroid. It is technically a minor planet.<\/p>\n

Paul <\/strong>Well, asteroid is the old name. I mean, William Herschel<\/a> came up with asteroid meaning star. So star like. So that was the original definition. I must admit, I still fall into asteroid as well, but yes, nowadays it\u2019s whole minor planet or dwarf planet of course as well. But we haven\u2019t got that for Vesta and we haven\u2019t got Ceres<\/a> in the sky at the moment to see easily. So there we are. That\u2019s the first as such. So we\u2019ve got Saturn and Vesta and that should the next even in on the 2nd the Moon lies to the left of Saturn and Vesta as well. Now I can imagine all this week basically we\u2019ve actually got a parade of the planets, to be fair, as a because they\u2019re in the evening. I mean, this makes it even easier. We had the parade earlier, a few months back in actual fact, if you remember, in the morning skies and we had the bonus of Venus<\/a> and Mercury<\/a> in the morning sky as well, but we\u2019ve actually got them all in the evening sky except Mercury and Venus, Mercury and Venus, I\u2019m sorry to tell you are too close to the glare of the Sun pretty much all month during November. So, you know, you can forget that. But we have got this parade of planets and it goes from Saturn<\/a> in Capricornus to Neptune<\/a> in Aquarius, Jupiter<\/a> in Pisces, Uranus<\/a> in Ares and then Mars in Taurus. Now, it literally struck me this morning I was looking at the notes and I suddenly thought. That is one in every consecutive constellation of the zodiac.<\/p>\n

Ezzy<\/strong> That\u2019s right.<\/p>\n

Paul<\/strong>\u00a0It struck me then. I\u2019d never thought of that. There\u2019s one in each constellation of that zodiac at the moment. So it all gets spoilt when Neptune gradually creeps into Pisces and of course, Jupiter wil have moved on as well. But I just thought I was a little one of those ido\u2026 idiosyncratic\u2026 Chronic things that I\u2019d never even thought about before, but they were actually all spread out amongst separate constellations.<\/p>\n

Ezzy<\/strong>\u00a0And is there a particular time of the evening which is good to see those planets, or will they be visible sort of throughout the entire time.<\/p>\n

Paul <\/strong>You really want to? Once you\u2019ve got evening twilight over, that will allow time for Mars to rise. So I\u2019m looking at 7:00 in the evening onward sort of thing to get a best view of the actual parade itself. And obviously, if you leave it too late, you then find Saturn will be actually getting too low and setting as well. So, yes, so 7:00 to about 10:00n, which is a nice, convenient time for most people, isn\u2019t it, for actually observing as long as you have clear skies. And of course, we\u2019ll have the moon passing under several of them. We\u2019ve already had it under Saturn on November 3rd. The Moon lies to the right of Neptune, to the sort of far right of Neptune. But most people will notice it being to the far right of Jupiter because Neptune needs binoculars or a small telescope, whereas Jupiter, while it\u2019s dominating the night sky, isn\u2019t it, as such? So on the 4th, the Moon will lie below right of Jupiter. So on the fourth we\u2019ll all look up and we\u2019ll see this bright Moon. And then you\u2019ll say, Oh, there\u2019s a star that and I always get these. What\u2019s that star above it, happens on social media quite a few times. Hey, I\u2019ve noticed the star above the moon tonight. Anybody know what it is? So I\u2019ll thing and I always like it when somebody says, Oh, it\u2019s probably Venus. I thought yet they\u2019d just taking a guess. But there are plenty of apps out there, folks, that you can buy computer programmes or even free computer and planetarium programmes that tell you where they are. So you shouldn\u2019t be able to get it wrong really. But there we also think so on 4th and the moon is directly to the lower right really of Jupiter. Then on bonfire night for the U.K., of course, on the fifth it lies to the left of the giant planet itself. Now, as I mentioned, Jupiter is actually really well placed in the evenings and it dominates now. There\u2019s nothing else. We haven\u2019t got Venus to mess about with. There\u2019s only the Moon in the Sun brighter on it. So Jupiter dominates, so it\u2019s well worth having a look with a telescope. Even with binoculars, some people see the Galilean moons with binoculars quite well, and others find it better to use a telescope. So well worth having a look at them and keep an eye on those four Galilean moons as they actually go around the planet. Meanwhile, don\u2019t forget Neptune. I mean, now it is the last technically the last true planet in the Solar System now. We won\u2019t get into the ooh-ha about poor Pluto or poor Pluto.<\/p>\n

Ezzy<\/strong> Dearly demoted.<\/p>\n

Paul<\/strong>\u00a0If I\u2019d been Clyde Tombaugh I would never trust it as a planet. Very eccentric orbit, it seemed to be completely the opposite of what we expected of a planet, but it was being searched for as a planet. So that was one of those things.<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>So they called it a planet because that\u2019s what they were looking for, is basically what happened.<\/p>\n

Paul<\/strong>\u00a0Exactly sort of thing. They found there were in roughly the right area. They expected it in, so it all fell into place. But you know, if we\u2019d have found it today, we\u2019d have never called our planet. It\u2019s as simple as that. But Neptune shouldn\u2019t be forgotten is tiny. It\u2019s about 2.8 seconds across, so seeing features on it is a real challenge. Astrophotographers have picked up some features now, People like Damian Peach and Pete Lawrence, have picked up subtle features, but it is very subtle. And also for Neptune you could always look for Triton. I mean, I imaged Triton<\/a>. Triton is actually relatively easy in that respect. So, you know, we\u2019ve got a good range of planets and we\u2019ve got the moon passing them for this week as well. So really it\u2019s a week of planets and the moon itself. So as I say, don\u2019t forget Uranus and Mars over on the sort of\u2026 well towards the Northeast, Mars is rising sort of thing. So I say we\u2019ve got this parade of planets. Have a go at that, pick them all out and then we\u2019re ready for next week\u2019s sky.<\/p>\n

Ezzy<\/strong>\u00a0Now, you did mention that that 5th November is bonfire night here in the UK, otherwise known as fireworks night. And I do know that that sometimes isn\u2019t the best night to be getting out and doing astronomy, isn\u2019t that right?<\/p>\n

Paul<\/strong>\u00a0Yes. I mean, if you want to get confused with meteors, that\u2019s the night to go out and get confused by meteors I\u2019ve actually had people say to me so that also a plenty on 5th. And I said, well, I wasn\u2019t bonfire night. So, you know, it is one of those things. I mean, there are meteor showers we\u2019re going to cover soon in next couple of weeks. But in actual fact, there\u2019s nothing major going on. It\u2019s actually worth remembering though, that there are always sporadic meteors. But yes, sort of thing. But bonfire night, if you\u2019ve got a bright, brazing bonfire going sort of thing. I prefer the the official events taking place because, you know, there\u2019s a lot more safety involved with that. And that\u2019s why I prefer them. But there will be a big bonfire and I have to say, the smoke drifting, I\u2026 Unless the smoke drifts away from you and come on, let\u2019s face it, it\u2019s one of those funny quirks of the Universe isn\u2019t it that the smoke always drift towards you. Now what do you do? It always drift towards you. So I tend to roll out November 5th unless the smoke is going in the in the different direction. And then my sky is clear and I\u2019m in the area I want to look for. But of course we\u2019ve got the moon up. So deep sky won\u2019t be as good because the Moon\u2019s gradually increasing in its phase.<\/p>\n

Ezzy<\/strong>\u00a0But if you are out and about, maybe on your way to or from a fireworks display, you might want to keep an eye out because you probably will at least be able to see the Moon and you might be able to get to catch a glimpse of Jupiter as well. Just perhaps not the best night for getting your telescope out, but thank you very much for that, Paul. It certainly sounds like there\u2019s a lot of interesting things to see in the night sky this week. I think the particular highlights were on 1st November where we\u2019ll have the Saturn, Vesta and the Moon all together in the night sky. Then on the third to 5th November, we have a bit of another planetary parade going on in the evening sky with Saturn, Neptune, Jupiter and the Moon making their way across the night sky. And Uranus will be there as well. So thank you all very much for joining us today. And if you want to keep up with weekly updates of what\u2019s in the night sky, please be sure to subscribe to the podcast and we see you here next week. If you want to find out even more spectacular sites that will be gracing the night sky throughout the month, be sure to pick up a copy of BBC Sky at Night Magazine where we have a 16 page pull out Sky Guide with a full overview of everything worth looking out for. Whether you like to look at the Moon, the planets, or the deep sky, whether you use binoculars, telescopes or neither, our sky guide has got you covered with detailed star charts to help you track your way across the night sky from all of us here at BBC Sky and Night Magazine. Goodbye.<\/p>\n

Chris Bramley<\/strong>\u00a0Thank you for listening to this episode of the Star Diary podcast from the makers of BBC Sky at Night Magazine. For more of them of visit our website at www.skyatnightmagazine.com<\/a> or head to aCast, iTunes or Spotify.<\/p>\n

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