LISTEN to this week’s Sky Report
This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the week ending Wednesday, October 31, 2012. Here is what’s happening in the skies of Southern California:
The moon lights most of the nighttime hours this week. Its phase changes from waxing gibbous to full on the 29th. The traditional name of this full moon is the “Full Hunter’s Moon.” Afterwards, the moon appears as waning gibbous through November 6th.
The innermost planet, Mercury, is the brightest object, 5 degrees high in the southwest at 6:30 p.m. through Monday the 29th. Remember that your clenched fist held out at arm’s length appears about 10 degrees wide. A telescope may reveal the planet’s phase, waning from gibbous to half illuminated on the evenings that Mercury is visible.
The planet Jupiter, in Taurus the Bull, rises in the east-northeast by 8:20 p.m. The brilliant cream-yellow planet is nearly overhead in the south at 3:20 a.m. Jupiter’s disk and four largest moons can just be made out through binoculars, while a telescope will show a variety of cloud details in the planet’s atmosphere.
The brightest planet, Venus, is visible in the east-southeast starting at 4:20 a.m. The planet may still be glimpsed at sunrise when it is 34 degrees high.
The International Space Station, rivaling Jupiter or Venus in brightness, should make a pass directly over Los Angeles on Sunday evening, October 28. The Space Station will move from the northwest horizon to directly overhead between 7:30 and 7:33 p.m., P.D.T. It will fade into earth’s shadow moments later.
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 five days a week (Wednesday-Sunday) through Griffith Observatory’s telescopes before 9:30 p.m. Check our website for our schedule. The next Griffith Observatory public star party, hosted by Los Angeles Astronomical Society, the Sidewalk Astronomers, and the Planetary Society, is scheduled for Saturday, November 17.
From Griffith Observatory, I’m Anthony Cook, and I can be reached at griffithobserver@gmail.com.