Star Calendar
October 2015
Star Calendar Planets:
Moon moves through the stars, eastward, at its own diameter every hour, or, 13 degrees per day, or, one season per week — as noted below.
Mercury is pretty bright now and is at greatest elongation mid-month. Those with a clear view to the east might pick him out due east at about 5:00AM
Venus is in her afterglow after her maximum brilliance last month. She is still at a large angle from the Sun and can be seen during the daytime with a little care. Look about 45 degrees (half a right angle) ahead of (right of) the Sun and patiently let the eyes linger, wandering in slowly larger circles around the chosen spot in the sky. Don’t look too hard or dart around too much. Once you see Venus you’ll wonder why it seemed so impossibly invisible to begin with — it just stands there sharp and bright; but if you go out another time it’s just as hard to find again!
Sun no longer gets high enough in our sky to create Vitamin D in our skin. The rule of thumb is that if your shadow is longer than you are tall, you are not getting the rays that stimulate that beneficial nutrient. The native northern-clime peoples make up for this with a very fatty acid (fish oil) diet. Those that shower daily might consider skipping the soap unless it’s actually needed; Vitamin D is an oil kept in your skin and it washes off with soap! UVA lights will give a suntan — but it is UVB or UVC that is needed to make Vitamin D.
Mars should now be visible, east in morning nautical twilight (around 5:00AM). As October opens he will be below Regulus and slightly dimmer. Venus stands higher, very bright, and Jupiter below, quite bright as well. On the 9th the Moon will stand just to the right; on the 18th Jupiter will stand very close by and he will finally have a sojourn with Venus on Nov.2nd.
Jupiter is the brightest object beneath Venus in the morning.
Saturn is low in the SW these evenings. He shuffles into Scorpius on the 16th, accompanied over the threshold by a crescent young Moon that night. They are SW at about 6:00PM
Star Calendar Dates:
1 Sunrise/sunset in Spring Valley at 6:53/18:38 EDT (11h45m daylight)
2 Moon near Aldebaran high in SW at 5:00AM
3 Moonrise most north-of-east for month, at 10:15PM
8 Moon above Venus, beside Regulus in east at 5:00AM
Mars above Jupiter, a little lower in the east
Mercury stationary to retrograde
9 Moon beside Mars, above Jupiter in east at 5:00AM
Draconid meteors (?) from overhead in late evening
11 Moon rises due east, thin and very low, to right of Mercury at around 5:AM
12 Uranus in opposition, up all night in Pisces, (for binoculars)
14 Islamic year 1437 A.H. begins at sundown
15 Mercury at greatest elongation, visible in morning nautical twilight low in east
16 Moon above Saturn in WSW at 6:15 PM, both in Scorpius, near Antares
18 Jupiter to right of much dimmer Mars (both below Venus) in east at 5:AM
Moonrise most south-of-east for month, at 11:15AM
24-25 Standard Time resumes in Europe
Moon rises due east at 3:30PM
25 Venus to right of much less bright Jupiter in east at 5:00AM
26 Venus at greatest elongation, largest angle from Sun
27 Full Hunter’s Moon 8:05AM
29 Moon rises below Aldebaran, ENE at 8:00PM
31 Sunrise/sunset in Spring Valley at 7:26/17:53 EDT (10h27m daylight)
Waning gibbous Moon rises 3 hours after darkness falls on Halloween
Moon rises most north-of-east again, just before 9:00PM
