LISTEN to this week’s Sky Report
This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the week ending Wednesday, October 9, 2013. Here is what’s happening in the skies of Southern California:
The brightest planet, Venus, is easy to see in the southwest for two hours, starting at sunset. Use a telescope to see the planet’s gibbous phase. The crescent moon joins Venus on the 7th and 8th.
The moon is new on Friday, October 4. It will appear as a slender crescent in the evening sky two days later.
The giant planet, Jupiter, rises in the east-northeast at about midnight. At the start of dawn, Jupiter is two-thirds the way to the overhead point in the east-southeast. Jupiter is in Gemini, the Twins, and passes close to the magnitude 3.5 star Wasat (delta Geminiorum). It is only 8 arc-minutes (a seventh of a degree) from Wasat on Thursday morning, the third. Binoculars or a telescope will show you the four largest of Jupiter’s moons.
Orange planet Mars is in Leo the Lion, and is easy to see in the east, half as high as Jupiter at dawn. Mars appears above and slightly fainter than Leo’s brightest star, Regulus.
Comet ISON, having just crossed inside of the orbit of Mars on its way to a Thanksgiving Day close encounter with the Sun, appears less than two degrees north of Mars all week. Brightening slowly from magnitude 11, the comet should be visible in telescopes as small as 5-inches in diameter from dark sky sites. Look for more observing information about comet ISON on our special comet ISON webpage.
The International Space Station will pass high over Los Angeles on Monday night, October 7. The brilliant satellite will appear near the southwest horizon at 7:41 p.m., and is overhead at 7:44. The ISS can be followed until it fades into earth’s shadow while 38 degrees high in the northeast a minute later. 10 power binoculars are enough to see hints of the shape of the ISS solar panels when it is overhead, and will show the sunset colors bathing the space station as it moves into earth’s shadow.
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. Please note that Griffith Observatory will be closed to the public on Saturday, October 5. 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, October 12.
From Griffith Observatory, I’m Anthony Cook and I can be reached at griffithobserver@gmail.com.