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Dark Skies Above Downeast Maine Dark Skies Above Downeast Maine Celestial Events for the Month of October The Eagle Hill institute would like to invite you to enjoy the Orionid Meteor Shower on October 20, 2012. The evening will begin at 5:30 with a lecture on Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids; followed by a celestial dinner (dinner cost: $20, need to make reservations by noon on the 20th) about 7pm. After dinner, it is time to bundle up as we go outside to view the Orionid Meteors. You are welcome to stay as long as you can bear the elements. We will even let you back into the building to warm up occasionally if we have to. Bring a lawn chair and blanket, a snack, something warm to drink, and lots of patience. After all, meteors do not come at regular intervals. CLEAR SKIES! October 3 – At 4 am, Venus passes 0.1 degrees south of Regulus (Leo’s brightest star). (Very Nice!) October 4 – The Moon is at apogee (251,755 miles from Earth) at 8:43 pm. October 5 – The Moon passes 0.9 degrees south of Jupiter at 5 pm. Starting at 7:30 pm using a telescope, look for comet C/2011 F1 at coordinates α = 15h 20m 41.3, δ = 3° 56’ 54”. The comet will pass within 2 degrees of the beautiful globular star cluster M5 in Ophiuchus. The comet’s magnitude will be about 10.6. M5’s magnitude about 5.7. October 6 – At 3 am within the constellation Virgo, Mercury will pass 1.3 degrees south of Saturn. Asteroid 2009 TK will pass by Earth at a distance of 4,183,004 miles. The Eagle Hill astronomy class begins tonight at 5pm. If you have not signed up yet, it’s not too late. Come join us. Information can be found at www.eaglehill.us/astronomy Continuing at 7:30 pm using a telescope, look for comet C/2011 F1 at coordinates α = 15h 22m 10.4, δ = 3° 31’ 49”. The comet will pass within 2 degrees of the beautiful globular star cluster M5 in Ophiuchus. Continue to follow the path of C/2011 F1 as it brightens a little into December. October 7 – At 1 am, barely within the constellation Orion the Mighty Hunter, Ceres, the largest asteroid and dwarf planet will be 0.9 degrees NNW of the Moon (PA 329°). The Moon will be a 60% illuminated Waning Gibbous. Ceres will have a magnitude of 7.37. October 8 – Last Quarter Moon occurs at 3:33 am. October 12 – Challenge! At 3 pm, a 10% illuminated Waning Crescent Moon passes 6 degrees south of Venus low in the western sky. Use your scope or binoculars. October 13 – Eagle Hill’s 2nd astronomy class lecture begins at 5pm tonight. October 15 – New Moon occurs at 8:03 am. October 16 – Asteroid 2012 LA will pass Earth today at a distance of 4,173,708 miles. Challenge #2 – The Waxing Crescent Moon (~3% illuminated), will be about 3.2 degrees WNW of Mercury at 6pm. The moon will set at 6:16 pm, and Mercury at 6:26 pm. Look for the pair earlier than 6 pm if daylight is not too strong. The Moon is at perigee (224,111 miles from Earth), at 9pm. October 18 – Mars will be about 3.8 degrees SW of the Moon at 6:30pm low in the southwestern sky. October 19 – Eagle Hill’s 3rd astronomy class lecture is tonight at 5pm. October 20 – Come to Eagle Hill to view the Orionid Meteor Shower. If you come, we will throw in a lecture on Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids, and a dinner. See the 1st page for details. See you then! Antares (Scorpius’ brightest star), will be about 3.6 degrees south of Mars at 6:30 pm. Antares is a supergiant red star with a luminosity (total power output), of about 11,444 times the Sun, and a size of about 351 times the Sun. That’s one big boy! To finish off the 20th at 11 pm, look for Jupiter 7.5 degrees NE of Aldebaran in Taurus the Bull. From Jupiter, we head 10.9 degrees ESE (PA 112°) to find the brightest asteroid called Vesta. The asteroid has a bright magnitude of about 6.67 (which is bright for Vesta). The coordinates for Vesta are α = 5h 41m 31s, and δ = 17° 26’ 19”. Nearby are Messier objects 1, 35, 36, 37, 38, and 78. Good Luck! October 21 – The Orionid Meteor Shower peaks today. The First Quarter Moon occurs at 11:32 pm. October 24 – Challenge #3 – At 8 pm, look for the planet Neptune located about 8.2 degrees SSW (PA 210°) of the Moon. Neptune’s magnitude will be 7.86, and the Moon will be 79% illuminated. You will need your telescope for Neptune. October 26 – Mercury is at its greatest eastern elongation (24° above the western horizon) at 6 pm. Challenge #4 – You thought that challenge #3 was bad; check this one out. At 11 pm, look for the planet Uranus located 4.8 degrees SE (PA 133°) of the Moon. Uranus’ magnitude will be 5.74, and the Moon will be 93% illuminated. Use your scope again. Uranus is about 7 times brighter than Neptune. Which challenge do you think is harder? October 27 – Eagle Hill’s 4th astronomy class lecture is tonight at 5pm. You don’t know what you’re missing. October 29 – Full Moon occurs at 3:49 pm. October 31 – To finish off the month, OH! HAPPY HALLOWEEN by the way. As I was saying, to finish off the month, look for Ceres the dwarf planet, at 11 pm, only 0.2 degrees north (PA 351°) of η Geminorum Propus, Tejat Prior (m = 3.28). Cere will have a magnitude of 7.02, which is quite bright for Ceres. The asteroid Vesta will be 9.85 degrees SW of Ceres. Jupiter will be 18.5 degrees west of Ceres, and the 95% illuminated Moon will be 30.1 degrees west of Ceres. You may as well just make this challenge #5. The Solar System’s Minor Objects During the month of October, the asteroids 2009 TK, and 2012 LA will get the closest to Earth. The closer of the two will be 2012 LA by just under 9,300 miles. 2009 TK is scheduled to pass Earth on October 6, at a distance of 4,183,004 miles, and 2012 LA on October 16, at a distance of 4,173,708 miles. 2009 TK has an average size of about 165 meters in diameter, and will pass Earth at velocity of 11.1 km/s ( 24,831 mph). 2012 LA has an average size of about 14 meters in diameter, and will pass Earth at a velocity of 1.86 km/s (4,161 mph). At these velocities and sizes, and assuming a density of 2,700 kg/m3 for the asteroids; they would make craters around 2.47 and 0.16 miles across respectively. Thankfully, these asteroids pose us no threat. Clear Skies! Math Challenge – Last month I asked you to calculate the external temperature of our Sun. If you came up with a temperature of 5,778 Kelvin = 9,941 °F, you did very well. This month, you need to calculate the velocity needed to escape Ceres. The first person to send in the correct answer will receive an Eagle Hill Astronomy T-Shirt. Good Luck! Don’t forget to include your name and other important information, or I won’t be able to send you your T-Shirt. Use: Vesc. = ��/� Where: V = Escape Velocity (m/s) G = The Gravitational Constant of the Universe = 6.67259E-11 N.m2/kg2 M = Mass of Ceres (kg) = 8.958E20 kg R = Radius of Ceres (meters) = 472,987.1 meters V = ___________________________ m/s x 2.237 = ________________________________ mph Eagle Hill Institute Astronomy Initiative: www.eaglehill.us/astronomy Eagle Hill Institute, 59 Eagle Hill Rd, PO Box 9, Steuben, ME 04680 For questions, please contact Ralph Battaline at 207-546-2821 #212, or [email protected] .
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