LISTEN to this week’s Sky Report
This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the week ending Wednesday, October 23, 2013. Here is what’s happening in the skies of Southern California:
The moon dominates the sky this week, changing from waxing gibbous to full on Friday the 18th. The moon is opposite the sun at 4:38 p.m., P.D.T., about 90 minutes before moonrise in Los Angeles. When opposite the sun, the moon will be 76 percent immersed in the penumbra, the outer fuzzy shadow of the earth. Shading caused by the penumbral eclipse should still be visible on the lower portion of the moon for several minutes after it rises above the east-northeast horizon at 6:05 p.m. The moon will appear waning gibbous on following nights, and by Tuesday the 22nd its rising time will be 9:01 p.m., P.D.T.
The brightest planet, Venus, is low in the southwest at sunset, and can be seen for another two hours. Venus is bright enough to see with binoculars in the daytime. The best time to look is at 3:45 p.m. when it is straight south and a third the distance from the horizon to the zenith, the point directly overhead. A telescope is required to see the planet’s gibbous phase.
Jupiter, the second brightest planet, will attract your attention as it clears the east-northeast horizon by 11:32 p.m. this week. By the start of dawn, 5:38 a.m., Jupiter is nearly overhead, 74 degrees above the east-southeast horizon.
Another eye-catching sight at the start of dawn is the close pairing of planet Mars and Leo the Lion’s bright star Regulus. They are about half as high as Jupiter, but in the east. Mars and Regulus look about equally bright but contrast strongly in color–Mars has a deep rust hue while Regulus has a blue tint. Comet Ison also is within 2 degrees of Mars, but bright moonlight will make the faint comet very difficult to see this week.
The brightest star of the night sky visible from earth–Sirius of Canis Major, the Big Dog–is highest at the start of dawn. Sirius is slightly higher than Mars at 39 degrees above the southern horizon. Sirius outshines Mars by a factor of 17, but appears only a little more than half as bright as Jupiter. To the upper right of Sirius is the constellation Orion the Hunter, with its distinctive belt of three evenly spaced stars.
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, November 9.
From Griffith Observatory, I’m Anthony Cook and I can be reached at griffithobserver@gmail.com.