The stars that outline the Celestial Sea line up across the southern sky on October evenings. The array consists of five water-related constellations: Capricornus, Piscis Austrinus, Aquarius, Pisces, and Cetus. Among the planets, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn all are in good view.
The full Moon of October is known as the Dying Grass Moon or Hunter’s Moon.
Apogee October 2, 29
Perigee October 16
Moon phases are Central Time
Hydra, the water snake, slithers quite low across the southwest at nightfall. One of its treasures is the binary system V Hydra. Its main star is old and puffed up. It expels gas into space, which the second star grabs, then shoots out like cannonballs.
The last gasp of a dying star climbs the eastern sky on June evenings. The Ring Nebula is not far to the lower right of the brightt star Vega, which is about halfway up the sky as night falls. The nebula consists of the ejected outer layers of a once-normal star.
Hercules and Ophiuchus are in the east this evening. Hercules is named for the Greek hero, while Ophiuchus, the serpent-bearer, is named for the mythological founder of Greek medicine. Both joined Jason aboard the Argo in search of the golden fleece.
Altair, one of the closest and brightest stars in the night sky, is in good view on June evenings. It forms the southern point of the Summer Triangle, which is low in the east and northeast at nightfall, and wheels high across the sky during the night.
The planet Saturn is putting on its best showing of the year this week. It’s low in the southeast as night falls and looks like a bright gold star. It arcs across the south later on, and remains in view all night.
The star cluster Messier 5 stands high in the southeast at nightfall, far to the lower left of Arcturus, a bright yellow-orange star. Through binoculars, M5 looks like a fuzzy star. Small telescopes reveal some of its individual stars.
Earth orbits the Sun at about 67,000 miles per hour. The solar system, in turn, orbits the center of the Milky Way galaxy at about 500,000 mph. And the Milky Way is moving toward a giant cluster of galaxies at 1.3 million mph.
The just-past-full Moon has a bright companion tonight: the planet Saturn. They are low in the southeast at nightfall, with Saturn close to the right or lower right of the Moon. The solar system’s second-largest planet looks like a bright star.
A bright triangle highlights the southern sky tonight: the full Moon, the star Antares, and the planet Saturn. As night falls, Antares stands to the lower right of the Moon, with brighter Saturn about the same distance to the lower left of the Moon.
Antares, the heart of Scorpius, stands directly below the Moon as darkness falls tonight. It is one of the biggest, brightest stars in the galaxy, and is fated to end its life with a titanic explosion known as a supernova.
