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This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the week ending Wednesday, September 11, 2013. Here is what’s happening in the skies of Southern California:
The planets Venus and Saturn, both in Virgo the Maiden, appear close together in the west-southwest after sunset. Venus, the brightest planet, is easily visible at sunset. Saturn, to the upper left of Venus, becomes noticeable about half an hour after sunset. Between the 4th and the 10th, the separation between the planets will decrease from 15 to 9 degrees. Spica, the brightest star of Virgo, is 1.6 degrees south of Venus on the 5th, and it slowly moves to the lower right of Venus on following evenings. Venus, now in gibbous phase, and Saturn with its spectacular system of rings, are shown early in the evening through Griffith Observatory’s telescopes.
The moon is new on the morning of Thursday the 5th, and first appears in the evening to the lower right of Venus and Spica as a slender crescent on Saturday the 7th. It passes Venus on the 8th and Saturn on the 9th as it moves higher and to the south along the ecliptic night after night. The moon sets about 51 minutes later each night causing the time of moonset to advance from 7:12 p.m. on the 5th to 11:29 p.m. on the 10th.
Brilliant Jupiter, in Gemini the Twins, appears in the east-northeast at 1:40 a.m., and is 42 degrees high in the east when dawn starts at 5:07 a.m. Orange Mars is in the middle of Cancer the Crab, midway between Jupiter and the northeast horizon at dawn. Binoculars will let you see Mars cross the Beehive star cluster, M44, in Cancer this week. The planet will appear centered on the cluster on the 8th.
Comet ISON, C/2012 S1, also is in the vicinity of Mars and the Beehive Cluster, but remains a feeble magnitude 14, about a thousand times too faint to see by the unaided eye. Astronomers are carefully monitoring the comet to see if it will burst into activity as it draws closer to the sun, but for now at least, comet ISON is continuing the same halted development that it has been displaying since January.
There are two interesting launches scheduled this week. A NASA probe to study dust surrounding the moon, called LADEE, is set to launch from Wallops Island, Virginia aboard an Orbital Space Systems Minotaur V booster. The launch is scheduled to occur on Friday, September 6, at 8:27 p.m., P.D.T., and will be shown live via satellite TV during Griffith Observatory’s All Space Considered program.
A Canadian research satellite called Cassiope is tentatively scheduled to launch on Tuesday, September 10 between 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m., P.D.T. aboard a Space Exploration Technologies Falcon 9 booster on its first launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, about 150 miles west of Los Angeles. Check the SpaceX website for links to live coverage of the launch, and head outside to see the rocket climb above the western horizon as soon as launch has occurred.
There is also a notable landing scheduled this week. On Tuesday, September 10, three members of the International Space Station Expedition 36 crew, including American Flight Engineer Chris Cassidy, will return home after spending more than five months in space. Their Soyuz capsule will depart the ISS at 4:37 p.m., P.D.T., and will land in Kazakhstan a little over 3 hours later, at 7:58 p.m., P.D.T. These events can be monitored through NASA’s website.
Free views of the sun during the day and of the moon, planets, and other celestial objects at night, are available to the public in clear weather through Griffith Observatory’s telescopes Tuesday-Sunday before 9:30 p.m. Check our website for our schedule. The next public star party on the grounds of Griffith Observatory, hosted by the Los Angeles Astronomical Society, the Sidewalk Astronomers, and the Planetary Society, will take place on Saturday, September 14.
From Griffith Observatory, I’m Anthony Cook and I can be reached at griffithobserver@gmail.com.