October 2011, 10.06.11

We love autumn here. Cooler weather means clearer skies, which means much better sky watching for us! So, what sorts of things can we expect to see this month? Well…

The moon will be full on the 11^th, and enter into its new phase by the 26^th, so there will be excellent star gazing towards the end of the month, weather permitting.

There are a lot of sunspots going on right now, so if you have the proper sun spotting equipment, you can expect to see about 8 different spots. Forecasters are expecting about a 30% chance for a big flare some time in the next week or so.

Expect to catch glimpses of two meteor showers this month. The Draconids (named after the radiant point Draco, the constellation) will peak on the 8^th and 9^th. This is one of the less impressive showers of the year, with only a few mild yellow streaks here and there. Comet 21/P Giacobini-Zinner is responsible for the detritus that causes the Draconids.

The other shower this month is the Orionids. The Orionids (named after–you guessed it—Orion) will peak around the 21^st and 22^nd. Caused by comet 1P/Halley, it will be a little better than the Draconids, but still less than average with about 40 yellow and green meteors per second. The Orionids have been known to produce a few fireballs in the past, too. Remember, you will always get the best view of meteor showers if you get as far away from light pollution as possible. Find a big, wide field where you cannot see city lights glowing on the horizon for the best viewing experience.

Comet C/2009 P1 (Garrad) is moving across the lower half of the constellation Hercules, and is visible with binoculars (and good aim). Skyhound.com has some good sky charts that you can use to get your bearings and track this comet.

Pegasus will be clearly visible this month. We challenge you to try to find galaxy M31 with a pair of binoculars. Trust us—it’s worth it!

Jupiter has been shining bright for some time now. You can check it out in the late night sky in the constellation Pisces. Mars will also be a bright red speck in the constellation Cancer this month, well before sun up. Remember: all the planets orbit along the ecliptic (the path of the sun across the sky), so you always look along that line to find them. It is about 23 degrees above the northern horizon, from east to west.

May 2011

April showers are trying to decide if they are going to leave us alone, but we will catch plenty of snatches of the sky in between the rain clouds to see some pretty neat stuff!

May begins with a nice, dark sky until around the 17th when the moon is finally full. We will end out the month with a new moon and dark skies again.

The year is continuing to bring a lot of sunspots; there have been 57 to date this year. Sunspot 1203 will be visible, bringing a low level threat of producing C-class flares.

There was more than one kind of April shower last month. The Lyrids shower is still flinging a few leftovers here and there, with a few impressive lone fireballs spotted by eyewitnesses in this region in recent days. We begin the month with another shower on the 5th and 6th, but it will probably be a weak show. This particular shower is caused by debris dropped by Halley's Comet, discovered by Edmond Halley in 1705.

An excellent constellation to check out this month is Virgo, with its bright alpha star Spica. Virgo is home to the Virgo cluster, a group of galaxies akin to M84 and M86, except all grouped together in one area. Stars 61vir and 70vir are known to harbor their own solar systems, too, so try to keep an eye out for those stars.

During the first week of May, a beautiful planetary conjunction will be visible in the morning sky just before dawn. Mercury, Venus, the Moon, Mars, and Jupiter will all be there to greet you in the east. Uranus will be there, as well, but you will need a decent telescope to catch a glimpse of it. All can be seen in the constellation Pisces. Saturn can be seen cruising through the constellation Virgo.