THE USM SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM
207-780-4249 www.usm.maine.edu/planet
70 Falmouth Street Portland, Maine 04103
43.6667° N 70.2667° W
Altitude: 10 feet below sea level
Founded January 1970
Julian date: 2458392.35
2018-19: XX
"Would the primatologist who left the orangutans at Met Life
Stadium please come collect them? They're beating the Jets 21 - 0."
THE DAILY ASTRONOMER
Monday, October 1, 2018
Week 5 Night Sky Calendar
October 1 - 7, 2018
Notice how every single date in the calendar causes us to be so astonished
that we question reality. "Wow! October 1st already, can you believe
it? It doesn't seem possible." Yes, October has arrived and September has
just coughed out its last breath on the remote Aleutian island that nudges
against the International Date Line. October is a strange month, not only
because of the giggling ghouls and creepy creatures that will be laying
siege to our peaceful domiciles like tsunamic outflows. October is strange
because of its name: Although October is the tenth month of the year, its
name means "eighth month," harkening back to the time when the calendar
year didn't start in January. Even though we've been commemorating the
year's birth on January 1st for quite awhile now, October is still called
October. Note that the last four months of the year are so named, or,
mis-named - September (7th month), November (9th month) and December (10th
month.) All of these are quite boring month names, actually, unlike
January, named for Janus, the two faced god of beginnings and endings,or
August, named for the first Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar.
Calendars are, of course, human constructs. Earth is merely flowing through
the space-time continuum in blind obedience to physical law. The seasonal
shifts from sultry and sublime to frozen and ghastly are also just applied
physics. We imposed a calendar to make sense of these transitions and
to help us with those particularly human endeavors such as sowing and
reaping. Even though precious few of us are now engaged in the extremely
under appreciated agriculture field, we've retained the calendar as it is
so useful for our day planners and in the preparation of monthly reports.
Earth just keeps moving continuously along the path it has tread for
billions of years.
*TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2: LAST QUARTER MOON*
*THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4: VENUS STATIONARY*
If Earth is continuously moving (refer to the pointless introductory
paragraphs), so, too, are the other planets. Venus never stops. From our
moving perspective, however, Venus does sometimes appear to halt in its
orbit before moving in the opposite direction. To understand the causes of
this illusion, we should remember that we're watching Venus from an
external vantage point. We watch it as NASCAR spectators watch cars
speeding around a track. When a car reaches either end of the track, it
won't move in a transverse way for a moment as it either moves toward or
away from the spectators before changing directions. The same effect
occurs when Venus and the other inferior planet, Mercury. Venus isn't
stopping. It just seems to because we're on a more distant world moving
around it.
*FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5: MOON AT PERIGEE*
The moon's distance from Earth is not constant because the moon travels
along an ellipse, an "oval shape." Consequently, the moon will reach a
point of greatest distance, apogee, and then another at least distance,
perigee. When the moon reaches perigee around the same time it is full,
we experience a "Super moon." The moon is currently passing through the
waning crescent phase (16% illuminated) and so won't exactly be a super
moon today. At the moment it reaches perigee, the moon will be 366,292
kilometers from Earth.
*PLANET WATCH*
*MERCURY * Mercury returns to the evening sky but, like a spoiled movie
star who condescends to make a fleeting cameo appearance only after his
exasperated lawyer explains the definition of 'contract clause,' Mercury is
not going to remain in our sight for long. VERDICT: If you're poised on a
mountain summit admiring the fading dusk, you might want to seek out
Mercury this week. All sea level skywatchers might want to give it a
miss.
*VENUS * will be exiting stage west by mid month. Venus is still the
brilliant beacon in the western evening sky, but doesn't remain in our sky
for long. By mid month our sister planet will sink out of sight.
However, flighty Aphrodite will quickly re emerge into the eastern pre-dawn
sky by November. VERDICT: Easier to find than Mercury, but you will still
need an unobstructed western horizon to find it.
*MARS: *Fame is a fickle thing. Mars dazzled and delighted this summer
during its perihelic opposition. The fourth world was quite a spectacle:
brighter than all planets, save Venus. Its ruddy red color intensified to
brilliant crimson and it commanded the admiration of millions. Now that
Mars is moving away from Earth, it is growing dimmer and is attracting less
attention. Yet, it remains visible in the sky throughout the evening and
is still brighter than most stars. VERDICT: Mars is still easy to see,
especially as it loiters in our sky for awhile.
*JUPITER:* (PICK PLANET) Jupiter is a western evening planet that is now
setting slightly less than two hours after sunset. It is now the second
brightest planet. VERDICT: One has to strain to find Venus and
Mercury. Provided you're out early enough, you'll have no trouble spying
Jupiter above the western horizon.
*SATURN: * Poor Saturn! It is the dimmest of the visible planets. Of
course, being 898 million miles from Earth, Saturn has a distance
disadvantage. At the moment, Saturn is slightly brighter than Betelgeuse,
the red super giant star in Orion. VERDICT: Saturn might not dazzle, but
at least it loiters about for awhile. See it set before 11:00 p.m.