Vernon Whetstone

Opinion

Still hasn't seen the light

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Drat, drat, and double drat. I have yet to view the zodiacal light. It seems the mornings I pick to go look are cloudy, and the mornings I don't go look are clear. Alas, such is the fate of astronomers, clouds, at the most inopportune times.

Fall is associated with fading things. The leaves fade from the vivid greens of summer to the reds, yellows, and browns, of autumn. Brilliant Jupiter is fading in brightness as it descends toward the southwestern horizon and the stars of summer are sinking from the sky as they range from just past overhead to low in the southwest and west.

Sorry to disappoint all of you want-to-be-goblins, the Moon won't be full on Halloween, it was full last week. You will have to settle for a fading Moon as well.

At least one thing is coming into predominance, the planet Mars is rising by 10 p.m. each evening now along with Orion the Hunter. Look in the northeast for reddish Mars and in the east for Orion. Look just after 10:30 p.m.

The autumnal stars are growing in stages too. In the east the grand square of Pegasus is rising with attached Andromeda, Perseus is just off to the left and Cassiopeia and Cepheus are nearby.

Our old friend Fomalhaut, the loneliest star in the sky, is just rising in the southeast these autumn evenings. It can't be missed. It is the brightest, and only star, in the area. The best time to look for them is at about 7:00 pm local time. It is good and dark by that time.

With the successful launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery last week now is a good time to watch for the shuttle and space station as they pass low in the north. The shuttle will be in space only for a few more days. By checking in each day at www.heavens-above.com and establishing your longitude and latitude (easily done from information available on site) you can find out when the station and shuttle will be passing over this area. You can also track any pending Irridium flares which are also fun to look for and watch.

Although a quick check shows there won't be many passes during this next week and they will all be early in the morning.

SKY WATCH: Third quarter Moon tomorrow (Thursday, Nov. 1). Mars rises a little after 10 p.m. with Saturn and Venus up by 4 a.m. and tiny Mercury by 6 a.m. Mercury will be making it's best morning showing of 2007. In fact, if you watch from just after sunset to early in the morning all five naked-eye planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, Mars and Mercury can be observed. And, if you know where to look, the gas giant planets Uranus and Neptune can be viewed as well. More about that later.

If you have the time go out between 8:30 and 9 p.m. to have a glance at the most recent WOW factor for astronomers, Comet 17/P Holmes. It can be found in the constellation Perseus which is located in the northeast just below Cassiopeia, above Auriga (which features the bright star Capella) and to the right of Pegasus/Andromeda. Comet Holmes suddenly brightened last week from a 17th magnitude barely-findable-even-in-very-large-telescopes to a 2nd or 3rd magnitude object as bright as Mirfak, the brightest star in Perseus, a constellation shaped like the letter "A."

Look just to the left of Mirfak. It is a distinctly non-star shaped object visible with the naked-eye. It is fantly glowing with a golden hue. Even with all the street lights and bright Moon it can be seen, but binoculars or a telescope will enhance the view. There is no customary cometary tail as the comet is headed away from Earth back out to the farthest point in its orbit beyond the planet Jupiter. Here is a Web location that has information and a finder chart for Comet Holmes: