This Week's Sky at a Glance for October 29 – November 6

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This Week's Sky at a Glance

Some daily events in the changing sky for October 29 – November 6.

by Alan M. MacRobert

Friday, October 29

  • The Ghost of Summer Suns. Halloween is approaching, and this means that Arcturus, the star sparkling low in the west-northwest in twilight, is taking on its role as "the Ghost of Summer Suns." What does this mean? Every year for several days around October 29th, Arcturus occupies a special place in the sky above your local landscape. It closely marks the spot there where the Sun stood at the same time (by the clock) during warm June and July — in broad daylight, of course. So in the last days of October every year, you can think of Arcturus as the chilly Halloween ghost of the departed summer Sun.

     

     

  • Venus is at inferior conjunction, 6° south of the Sun and basically unobservable.

     

     

  • The last-quarter Moon shines very late tonight. (It's exactly last-quarter at 8:46 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time Saturday morning.)

     

    Now at naked-eye visibility, Mira in Cetus climbs the eastern sky in late evening — in this case, over hills in Iran.Babak A. TafreshiSaturday, October 30

     

     

  • The tiny black shadows of both Europa and Ganymede fall on Jupiter's face from 9:16 to 11:59 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time.

     

     

  • Mira, the brightest long-period red variable star, should soon be starting to fade from the unusually bright maximum it's been having. As of October 27th observers were still reporting it at about magnitude 3.0, obvious to the unaided eye. Mira is up in good view in the east-southeast by 9 or 10 p.m. daylight saving time. A comparison-star chart is in the September Sky & Telescope, page 58.

     

    Sunday, October 31

     

  • Halloween evening this year is moonless, with brilliant Jupiter lording it over the southern sky.

     

    Comet Hartley 2, big and round but very dim, crosses the feet of Gemini early this week rapidly heading south. Click image for larger map.Sky & Telescope diagramMonday, November 1

     

     

  • Periodic Comet Hartley 2 is once again becoming visible in a more-or-less moonlight-free morning sky. This week the comet crosses from Gemini into Canis Minor, as shown at right (larger chart). That means the time to observe is before the first light of dawn at your location. The comet is fading now as it starts moving away from both Earth and Sun; see predicted light curve (scroll to bottom). Read more in our article Encounters with Comet Hartley 2.

     

     

  • The long-lasting Taurid meteor shower runs throughout the first half of November or longer. Taurids are few in number but sometimes unusually bright, traveling slowly away from the direction of Taurus. The shower is active in the evening as well as the early-morning hours.

     

    Tuesday, November 2

     

  • Will there be a "Hartley-id" meteor shower this evening or tomorrow evening? We'll only find out by watching! If there is, the shower's radiant will be in Cygnus — high overhead in early evening. See NASA article.

     

     

  • By mid-evening, bright Capella is shining well up in the northeast. Look off to its right, in the east, for the little Pleiades star cluster — and, below the Pleiades by about a fist-width at arm's length, the orange giant star Aldebaran.

     

    Early risers can catch the waning crescent Moon guiding the way to Saturn, Spica, and Venus as dawn grows bright. bring binoculars; the visibility of objects in bright twilight is exaggerated here. The blue 10° scale is about the size of your fist held at arm's length.(These scenes are drawn for the middle of North America. European observers: move each Moon symbol a quarter of the way toward the one for the previous date.)Sky & Telescope diagramWednesday, November 3

     

     

  • During dawn Thursday morning, spot Venus very low in the east-southeast starting about a half hour before your local sunrise time. The waning crescent Moon is about a fist-width at arm's length to Venus's upper right. Use binoculars to pick out Saturn and Spica too, as shown at right.

     

    Thursday, November 4

     

  • This morning is when NASA's EPOXI mission flies within about 450 miles of the nucleus of Comet Hartley 2, taking pictures all the way. The best resolution should be just 7 meters per pixel on the nucleus's landscape. Full details. Watch the coverage on NASA TV.

     

     

  • During dawn Friday morning, skywatchers in North America can use binoculars to try spotting an extremely thin waning crescent Moon. Look 2° to 5° below and perhaps a bit left of Venus, very low in the east-southeast, starting about 20 minutes before your sunrise time.

     

    Friday, November 5

     

  • By 11 p.m. this week, Orion is sparkling in the east-southeast, with Aldebaran and the Pleiades high above it.

     

    Saturday, November 6

     

  • Vega is still the brightest star shining high in the west these evenings. The brightest star above Vega is Deneb, marking the head of the Northern Cross — the brightest part of the constellation Cygnus.

     

     

  • New Moon (exact at 12:52 a.m. on this date Eastern Daylight Time).

     

     

  • If you're on daylight-saving time in North America, clocks "fall back" an hour to standard time at 2 a.m. Sunday morning.
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