©ABRAMS PLANETARIUM Use this scale to measure angular distances between Nearly all night: Mars Planetarium business office: objects on diagrams below. presents its closest and (517) 355-4676 brightest (peak mag. –2.6) SKY CALENDAR OCTOBER 2020 approach to Earth until http://twitter.com/AbramsSkyNotes An aid to enjoying the changing sky 0° 10° 20° 2035 (see Oct. 6, 13), even http://abramsplanetarium.org/ outshining Jupiter most THURSDAY SATURDAY of month. Telescopic view: SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY FRIDAY Box, lower right. Oct 1-3, Oct 1 & 4, Thurs Oct 1 Thurs Oct 1, Alpha Cap Thurs Oct 1, Oct 1-3, Evening: Jupiter (mag. one hour before sunrise one hour before sunrise Full 30 minutes Beta Cap one hour after sunset 1¾ hours –2.4 to –2.2) and Saturn PEGASUS S 5:05 p.m. EDT. after sunset after sunset (+0.5 to +0.6) are paired in Sat 3 ickle Venus S to SSW at dusk, east of Thurs 1 2nd smallest full moon of this CAPRICORNUS Saturn the Teapot of Sagittarius. Mars Mercury PISCES Regulus year. Jupiter In mid-October, our at gr elongation, LEO Lunar distance Spaceship Earth races Venus 26° east of ; away as each appears 90° Sunday 4 252,476 miles at apogee, unfavorable, low T E of Sun, first Jupiter on Fri 2 Oct. 3 at eapo in bright twilight. erritory Hamal Oct. 10-11, and Saturn on 1 p.m. EDT. T t of Dogs SAGITTARIUS next weekend. Both are From long. 90° W one hour before shrinking in apparent size, ARIES sunrise, Venus-Regulus appear 1¾° Mars Thurs 1 Jupiter faster, because it’s Denebola apart on Oct. 1 and Oct. 4, and 0.6° apart on Oct. 2 and 3. From E Coast, Mercury NNEcloser. By October’s end, NE mag 0.0 NNE NE extent of Saturn’s rings Thurs 1 Venus-Regulus are slightly farther than Fri 2 PISCES 0.6° apart on Oct. 2, and slightly closer + begins to exceed Jupiter’s on Oct. 3. From W Coast, Venus-Regulus SCORPIUS equatorial diameter. It’s WSW W are 0.5° apart on Oct. 2, and 0.7° apart SSE S SSW 5.7 mag. WSW Uranus Sat 3 a good month to witness E on Oct. 3. E eclipses of Jupiter’s Galilean away from Tues Oct 6: LEO Castor overhead Hamal Oct 3-13, the disk, and the shadow LEO Mars Oct 14-15, Pleiades 1¼ hours Venus of Saturn cast upon its Pollux GEMINI BetaTauri before closest, 1 hour ickle 5.7 mag ARIES rings. With binoculars, note S sunrise 38.57 before Tues 13 Mon 12 Sunday 11 Fri 9 Uranus 2.1° by 1.1° kite-shaped Thurs 8 Wed 7 million sunrise asterism Territory of Dogs Tues 6 Mars Mon 5 + miles. Light within 7° lower left of Sat 3 Denebola Wed 14 Saturn. Sat 10 travel time Beehive Zeta Tauri Hyades Countdown to great Regulus Cluster to Earth, 3 Venus Sunday 4 conjunction: Jupiter-Saturn Aldebaran Sat 3 min 27 sec. are 7° apart on Oct. 7; 6° Tues 13 on Oct. 21; 5° on Nov. 2; 4° TAURUS Tues Oct 13: Old NNE NE Gamma Mars at on Nov. 13; and 3° apart CANIS Alpha Moon on Nov. 23. Jupiter-Saturn Fri Oct 9 opposition, Thurs 15 looking Last Quarter Moon MINOR will appear within a 1° field CETUS Delta looking up nearly E 8:39 p.m. EDT Procyon Dec. 12-29, and closest, East Betelgeuse West all night. 0.1° apart on Dec. 21, their ORION tightest pairing between Thurs Oct 15: Map, Friday Oct 16 Sat Oct 17, Sunday Oct 18, Saturn Oct 21-23, 1623 and 2080. Oct 18-20, Jupiter 1½ hours October Evening Skies, 30 minutes after sunset evening: Tues 20 Use binoculars and one hour Fri 23 after sunset chart, October Evening over, depicts tonight’s Three bright outer planets, after Skies, over, to locate Mira, sky three hours after Closest New Moon of Mon 19 Thurs 22 Wed 21 Uranus, and Neptune. A Jupiter, Saturn, Wed Oct 21, sunset Territory line from Alpha to Delta sunset from lat. 40° N. year, 3:31 p.m. EDT. Mars, span 90°. predawn: Peak of Dogs S T Jupiter-Saturn now Lunar distance of Orionids eapo Ceti, 7° long, extended 6°, Young Sunday Oct 25: Antares Sunday 18 locates Mira, expected at Mercury in Fri Oct 23 within 6.5°. Binoculars: 221,775 miles at perigee Moon First Quarter Moon SAGITTARIUS t peak brightness in late SCORPIUS SW WSW Mira, Uranus, Neptune. at 8 p.m. EDT. inferior 9:23 a.m. EDT Sept.-early Oct. Compare WSW conjunction. Mira’s brightness to Alpha SSW Ceti (mag. 2.5), Gamma 5.7 mag + Moon and Mars on night of Oct. 2, W Coast in Oct 27-31, Alpha Oct 29-31, Sat Oct 31, Sat Oct 31 (3.5), and Delta (4.1). In Mars Uranus 8 p.m. hour (PDT), E Coast in midnight hour 1½ hours after sunset 2½ hours 45 minutes before sunrise (EDT), Moon’s center only 1.2°-1.5° S of Mars. mid-Oct., Uranus forms Tues 27 VIRGO Gamma before Mercury, 4° from Spica Full “Blue” Moon, Around sunrise, findMars near Moon on Oct. nearly isosceles triangle ARIES 3, and Venus near Moon on Oct. 13 and 14. with Xi-2 and Mu Ceti, Hamal Delta Sat 31 sunrise Oct 31-Nov 3 10:49 a.m. EDT. Wed 28 (min. dist., in Around sunset, findJupiter near Moon on Oct. 4.3-mag. 4.5° apart 5.7 mag Venus 22, and Mars near Moon on Oct. 29. Whenever Uranus CETUS quasi-conjunction), 2nd Full Moon in head of Cetus. Uranus, Thurs 29 Alpha Psc Mars is at opposition, seasons in its N and S brightens rapidly this month and hemispheres are 95° ahead of Earth’s. So on mag. 5.7, is nearly 6° from Mira PISCES as both rise higher + PISCES smallest of 2020. Oct. 13, 2020, it’s early summer in Mars’ S each. Neptune, mag. 7.8, is daily. Mercury at hemisphere. Mars’ dark feature Syrtis Major then 1.2° ENE of 4.2-mag. Fri 30 Alpha Psc Lunar distance Fri 30 very favorable in good view for 12 consecutive nights, about Phi Aquarii. gr elong Nov. 10. 36 minutes later nightly. Series begins on Beta 252,522 miles Using a prior Morning: Venus (mag. Mars definition, this is different date in each time zone: Begin Oct. 3 Sat 31 NNE CETUS NE at apogee Oct. 30 at 10:03 p.m. EDT; or Oct. 4 at 9:39 p.m. CDT; or –4), rises in E about 3 hours Gamma a Blue Moon, before Sun. Don’t miss at 3 p.m. EDT. Thurs 29 Mercury not Oct. 6 at 9:52 p.m. MDT; or Oct. 7 at 9:28 p.m. Mira Spica and next will be PDT. Mars highest in S on 6th and 7th nights of close conjunction with ESE W (mag +1.9) E Delta WSW E ESE on Aug. 22, 2021. each 12-day series. On 12th night, Mars is low Regulus Oct. 2 and 3; see Alpha in WSW. calendar. Venus goes 1.2° More on Mars: abramsplanetarium.org/msta per day, or 6° each 5 days, John S. French, Robert C. Victor $12.00 per year, starting anytime, from Sky Calendar, Abrams Planetarium, Michigan State University, against stars. ISSN 0733-6314 Subscription: 755 Science Rd, East Lansing, MI 48824 or online at abramsplanetarium.org/skycalendar/