October 13, 1999
1. November can be a pretty long month, in spite of its allotment of just 30 days. The days are cold, short and often dreary. If you have a clear morning this week, by all means, take the opportunity to face east in the hour before sunrise. Venus and the waning moon will repeat last month's lovely morning conjunction over the next few days.
2. Maybe now that the records of the Soviet space program are more accessible to scholars, we might come to understand the purpose that took a little dog named Laika into Earth orbit aboard Sputnik 2 on this date in 1957. Since this was just a month after the very first launch of an artificial satellite, the Soviets were clearly moving vigorously toward a launch of other creatures.
3. If you are able to find a clear view of the eastern sky at 6 a.m., you'll see the moon drawing nearer to Venus. They are scheduled to pass within a few degrees of each other late this afternoon, but neither will be visible in the United States at that hour. If you check again tomorrow morning, you'll see the moon below Venus and considerably closer to the sun.
5. Although Jupiter can boast of being nearly 150 times brighter, Saturn demands attention tomorrow because it is at opposition, its position 180 degrees opposite the sun. Saturn can still outshine the stars of its background constellation, Aries, which from a distance of 850 million miles from Earth isn't too shabby!
7. The moon will be at new phase at 9:53 p.m., conspicuous by its absence for any astronomer who values a dark, moonless sky. That description probably fit Edmond Halley, an impressive man in a time of great genius. Halley had a gift that was not so fully enjoyed by the more brilliant mathematician, Isaac Newton - Halley could smooth over disputes and see a project to completion. Without his diplomacy and financial support, Newton might never have published the mathematical explanation of planetary motion, that also - coincidentally - explained the orbit of the comet Halley had discovered to be a periodic visitor to the inner solar system. Happy 343rd birthday tomorrow, Halley!
13. Mars and the young moon will follow the sun down in the west fairly early this evening. If you had looked for Mars on this date in 1971, you would have seen the red planet about halfway between the present positions of Mars and Jupiter. On this date in 1971, the first space probe from the United States went into orbit around Mars. Mariner 9 photographed the Martian surface, sending back transmitted messages over the 130 million miles that separated us.
14. A moderately rare event is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon between 3:15 and 4:00. Mercury will transit (pass in front of) the disk of the sun. This event should be visible from any clear location in North America but, of course, ONLY with approved equipment for viewing the sun. If you have a telescope, you must have the appropriately dense filters to make looking at the sun safe and you must cover over any other exposed apertures, such as finders. It's doubtful that Mercury's tiny disk will be visible against the bright sun without magnification, so safely filtered telescopes are probably the only way to see this.
15. Today is the 261st anniversary of the birth of William Herschel, the discoverer of the planet, Uranus. Many people have heard how Herschel intended to name his discovered world after his royal patron, George III of England, but not so many are aware of Herschel's tireless work as a stellar astronomer. Herschel was one of the first to recognize that stars prefer to live in pairs or larger groups, and the first to attempt a sketch of the structure of the Milky Way galaxy. Herschel's most famous discovery, Uranus, is a few degrees to the lower right of the moon tonight, near the star Theta Capricornus.
16. The First quarter is always a delightful phase of the moon, as it is conveniently situated above the southern horizon in the early evening. The moon is passing through a relatively sparse stellar field of Aquarius, with Uranus, Neptune and Mars all off to the west. The moon reached this phase at 3:03 a.m.
17. Remember last year's fine Leonid meteor shower? As good it was, it didn't replicate this shower's spectacular visits in 1833 and 1966. There are predictions, not especially firm, for a possible storm tonight or tomorrow morning. The predicted maximum, around 8 p.m., is too early for Western Hemisphere observers to catch. The best strategy is probably to try for 1 a.m. on November 18 and hang out as comfortably as you can, for as long as you can.
20. Caught between a fish and a whale! Jupiter has been awesomely bright this fall but it won't be able to compete with the nearby and nearly full moon. They will be about four degrees apart this evening, nestled in the tail section of Pisces, the fish. The constellation Cetus, the whale, fills in the space between Jupiter and the horizon.
22. The moon has crept eastward against the stellar background since last evening and by tonight, it will be quite close to the planet Saturn. Saturn is not as bright as Jupiter, but it is always a rewarding and beautiful sight in a telescope. The moon will be full at 1:04 a.m. tomorrow, so it might drown out the background of the constellation Cetus. One of this large constellation's brighter stars hangs a little nearer the horizon below Saturn and the moon, the star Menkar, whose name means "nose" in Arabic.
23. Later this afternoon, the moon will carry off a neat trick with Taurus' brightest star, Aldebaran, passing a little more than a degree from this bright yellow star. Although the conjunction will be over by the time this pair rises, they should make a striking pair throughout the night.
29. Six in the morning isn't such a bad hour, really! The sun is still more than an hour below the eastern horizon, Venus is so beautiful that it's giving the bright star Spica an inferiority complex and the moon is high above the southern horizon (it will be at third quarter phase later this afternoon, at 5:18 p.m.). The moon is once again near Regulus, the kingly star of the lion constellation, Leo.