What's Up: October 28, 2023 by Jared May
What’s Up This First Week of November
It looks like the forecast is not looking too nice for stargazers this weekend (October 28-29). As the week goes on, however, there may be several clear nights. During these upcoming clear nights, the temperature will drop into the upper thirties so be sure to bring your winter weather gear to keep warm. (It’s always colder than you think at night!) Sunset this week is right around 6:30 PM so be ready for true darkness by around 7:30 PM. Look these cold and clear nights for the full moon, a Pleiades-moon meetup, the spooky Witch Head Nebula, and some evening planets.
This Saturday, October 28th, marks the full moon of the month. Stargazers over in Europe and Africa will get a nice show – there will be a partial lunar eclipse where the moon passes into Earth’s shadow. It is quite coincidental that just two weeks ago there was a solar eclipse, and now there is a lunar eclipse! The moon will rise in the east almost exactly at sunset. This unfortunately means that any deep-sky objects in the east will likely be washed out by the moon’s glow.
The glare of the nearly full moon makes it hard to see the Pleiades, but photographers, and users of binoculars, can sometimes catch the two appearing next to one another in the sky.
Between Sunday and Monday (Oct 29th and 30th) the moon will pass very near the Pleiades star cluster. On Monday, try spotting the Pleiades up in the eastern sky around 8 PM with the moon trailing (or “below”) the cluster by about 5 degrees. The moon will be deeper into its waning gibbous phase and a little dimmer than the night before. This will make it much easier on the eyes if you decide to observe our natural satellite using a telescope or binoculars. The moon will also wash out less of the faint stars and details of the Pleiades cluster, which is an ideal object for viewing through a low-power telescope or binoculars. [Moon-Pleiades Photo]
On Halloween night, around midnight (even spookier), look low in the eastern sky to spot the famous Orion constellation. Near the bright star of Rigel, which makes up Orion’s “leading” foot, there is a faint and ghostly reflection nebula. This eerie white glowing nebula has an uncanny resemblance to that of a witch’s head turned to the side.
Where to point an astro-camera to see the Witch’s Head Nebula
The Witch Head is a faint nebula that shines at magnitude 13 so you will need a long-exposure camera and dark skies to see it, as well as a wide-angle lens since this object spans 3 degrees across (about the same as 6 side-to-side full moons). The color of the nebula comes from large clouds of dust that reflect light from the nearby star of Rigel.
A closeup of the Wtich’s Head Nebula . [WitchHead Nasa Photo: https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/witch-head-nebula/]
In case you’re in the mood for planets this week, both Saturn and Jupiter will be easy to spot and observe. Jupiter will be very high in the eastern sky, almost perfectly overhead by midnight. Saturn will be in the western sky on its way to setting below the horizon around 2 AM. There is a decent opening angle on Saturn’s rings this year, so now is a great time to view them. Because the rings don’t rotate on the same angle as the solar system ecliptic, the rings will appear very thin or very wide, depending on where Saturn is in its orbit. In 2009, Saturn was positioned such that we viewed the rings completely edge-on from Earth and so they appeared razor thin.
Saturn is always a great object. See if you can spot some of its many moons in a small scope.
Be sure to take advantage of the several clear nights coming up – these don’t happen very often this time of year! Pack some warm clothes and a chair so you can kick back and enjoy the cosmic displays of our universe. One stargazing benefit of the autumn and incoming winter season is that sunset will get earlier and earlier until the winter solstice. This means you don’t have to stay up so late to enjoy the dark skies, unlike in the summer months. Enjoy the bright and full moon, the gibbous moon crossing paths with the Pleiades cluster, a spooky cosmic Witch Head Nebula, and some gas giants hanging out high in the sky.
Clear Skies!