What's Up: October 26 - November 2

Sunsets this week occur before 6:30 PM and dark skies fall roughly 45 to 60 minutes after that. While the sun may be getting out of the way early for night-sky enthusiasts, the weather this week may not be on our sides. It is looking to be very cloudy most of this week with a small chance that this weekend may clear up. Last week’s warm temperatures may have been the last of 2020. This week’s nighttime temperatures will be in the 40’s and even approaching freezing some nights. This week, if the weather is forgiving, brings us the Hunter’s Moon (A Halloween full moon…spooky), a close encounter between Mars and the moon, the Pleiades, and the “Summer Triangle Effect”. If the weather doesn’t cooperate it might be the perfect time to look around at some new astronomy equipment for when the skies do clear up.

It is a spooky coincidence that on Saturday, Halloween (be safe!), there will be a full moon. This particular full moon is called the Hunter’s Moon as any full moon that occurs in the month of October is given this nickname. The official full moon this Saturday occurs just hours after the moon reaches its orbit’s apogee, or the furthest point from Earth. This means the full moon this Saturday will be the smallest one of 2020, however, it will still wash out many of the fainter night-sky objects.

On Thursday, the moon will make close pass with Mars. The red planet can be seen as a noticeably bright red “star” that hangs in the eastern skies shortly after sunset. This is an ideal moment to use binoculars since both objects are very bright, relatively close to each other, and lower to the horizon shortly after sunset (no straining your neck to view something straight overhead).

Mars and the Moon on the night of October 29, 2020

Around 8 PM this time of year a small fuzzy patch in the sky can be seen rising in the east-northeast skies. While you have your binoculars out observing the moon and Mars, turn towards this fuzzy patch. The magnification through the binoculars will reveal that this spot in the sky is actually a bright collection of blue stars. The brightest stars in this cluster are the seven sisters, the Pleiades. This open star cluster spans roughly 18 light-years across and is 400 light-years away from Earth. Estimates are that this young cluster will be pulled apart in 250 million years due to gravitational interactions with its surroundings.

A closeup view of the Pleiades M45. Image by Greg Chatelain

The Summer Triangle, one of the simplest asterisms (“star pictures”) and one of my personal favorites. It is a symbol of the summer skies; the warm weather, summer deep-sky objects, and more. This figure appears to be “fixed” in the night sky around this time of year. It is of course slowly moving and setting earlier and earlier (as the seasons progress), but since sunset is also earlier and earlier the stars of the Summer Triangle appear to pop out earlier. These two competing effects, seasonal progression of the night sky and earlier sunsets, give the illusion that the Summer Triangle stands still overhead for several weeks.

Cloudy weeks are great times to poke around online to see what kind of astronomy gear is for sale. With Christmas coming up soon too, it might make the perfect time to gift someone some new binoculars or a telescope. Many retail stores have beginner telescopes for sale for under $50, and while they make fantastic scopes for kids and beginners, there are many other options for buying slightly more advanced scopes designed for beginners. Some great company websites to browse for cheaper gear aimed at beginner and intermediate telescope users include: Celestron , Orion, and Meade. These sites have a great selection and make picking out telescopes, binoculars, and accessories easy.

For more experienced users, the price on equipment is probably starting to get rather steep. Consider buying equipment secondhand from a site such as cloudy nights (https://www.cloudynights.com/). You do have to make an account to view what people have for sale, but there is a massive selection and usually really good deals on the equipment you need.

To sum up:
The naked eye can do the night sky lots of justice but using even cheap binoculars can drastically enhance your night-sky observing experience. Be on the lookout this week for the full moon on Halloween, the close pass between the moon and Mars, the Pleiades, the “Summer Triangle Effect”, and perhaps look around for some new gear to use for when there are cloudless nights.

If the clouds hold out this week make sure to bring a warm jacket outside for when you stargaze.

Clear Skies!