October Observing guide Please note times are NZDT +13 hours UT (GMT) MOON PHASES First quarter: October 2 at 8.32 am (Oct 1, 19:32 UT) Full moon: October 8 at 11.51 pm (10:51 UT) Last quarter: October 16 at 8.12 am (Oct 15, 19:12 UT) New moon: October 24 at 10.57 am (Oct 23, 21:57 UT) First quarter: October 31 at 3.48 pm (02:48 UT) TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE October 8 to 9. Yes folks TWO lunar eclipse in one year and all phases of this eclipse are visible from New Zealand again! Totality lasts for almost an hour starting 11:25pm to 12:24pm. The moon starts entering the Earths shadow (umbral) about 10:15 pm and finally leaves it at 1.35am Not to be missed and looking forward to the images. PARTIAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN – For Northern Hemisphere friends! October 23. For our northern friends, this partial eclipse is visible from the North America to the Yucatan Peninsula. Checkout mr-eclipse for more details and the exact path. THE PLANETS MERCURY is an evening object that the start of October, setting more than around two hours after the Sun. VENUS not really an easy object to see as its at superior conjunction (the far side of the Sun to the Earth) on October 25. It becomes observable October. The MOON makes a close pass at Mars on 18 October, when The moon will be a 21% lit crescent. Again look up and get snapping! MARS is the best planet for viewing this October and is visible all month in the evening sky. At the start of October, Mars is just under 4° from Antares in Scorpius and just slightly brighter. It then moves into Ophiuchus entering Sagittarius on the 21st. Again, another great astrophotography opportunity! SATURN starts the month in the low western sky and becomes a morning object towards the end of October. Still a great view to be had in a large telescope JUPITER rises around 2 hours before the Sun at the start of October and about 3 hours earlier by the 31st. On the morning of the 18th the moon will pass Jupiter by around 6°. A great sight and worth getting out of bed for! URANUS will be in the sky all night, in the constellation Pisces during October and.at opposition on October 8. The planet will then be 2844 million km, 19 AU, from the Earth.That’s 19x the distance from earth to the Sun! 1 AU (Astronomical Unit) = 149,597,871 kilometres! NEPTUNE is an evening object throughout October, in the constellation Aquarius PLUTO is in Sagittarius at magnitude 14 By the end of October Mars will be 8° from Pluto. – If you want to see Pluto, you’ll need at least a 14inch telescope. If you want a guided tour of the night sky, with telescopes; send a facebook PM, or contact us via our Facebook page Clear skies
Posted on: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 08:42:53 +0000
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