Skynotes: October 2020
Mars in October
Mars will reach opposition on the 14th this month, meaning it will be on the other side of the sky to the Sun as seen from Earth, or in orbital terms it will be on the side of our planet that’s directly opposite the Sun. This Sun-Earth-Mars line up occurs every 780 days, but this one should be a great sight with Mars only 62.7 million km from Earth. It will not be that close for another 15 years.
Read more about our neighbour, new missions and a look at its weird moons:
Melbourne sun times
| Date | Rise / Solar noon* / Set (day length) |
|---|---|
| 1st | 5.55am / 12.09pm / 6.24pm (12.28 hrs) |
| 11th | 6.40am^ / 1.06pm^ / 7.33pm^ (12.53 hrs) |
| 21st | 6.26am / 1.04pm / 7.43pm (13.16 hrs) |
| 31st | 6.14am / 1.03pm / 7.53pm (13.39 hrs) |
*When the Sun is at its highest crossing the meridian or local longitude.
^Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT) begins 2am, Sunday 4th.
Moon phases
| Phase | Date |
|---|---|
| Full Moon | Friday 2nd |
| Third Quarter | Saturday 10th |
| New Moon | Saturday 17st |
| First Quarter | Saturday 24th |
The Moon will be at apogee (furthest from Earth) on Sunday 4th at a distance of 406,321 km and perigee (closest to Earth) on Saturday 17th at 356,912 km.
Planets
Mercury is extremely hard to spot this month as it lies very close to the Sun.
Venus is still visible in the east in the morning from 5am until it fades from view in the early dawn light.
Mars is very obvious being in opposition this month. It rises about 8pm in the east, reaches its highest position in the north-east around midnight, and will remain visible in the north-west until 5am.
Jupiter is visible in the evening from about 8pm in the north-west and sets by 2am. For the Boorong of north-western Victoria, Jupiter is Ginabongbearp, husband to Chargee Gnowee (Venus). Being the brightest objects in the night sky after the moon, they are two of the most important in their tradition and stories.
Saturn follows Jupiter in the north-west being visible from 8.30pm before dropping below the horizon around 2am.
Meteors
The Orionids are visible from the 15th-29th peaking on the 21st with estimates of around 30 meteors per hour. The best time will be from around midnight until early dawn. The shower is centred on Orion near the red supergiant star Betelgeuse with meteors typically fast, bright and many leaving persistent trains. This shower was first recorded by the Chinese in 288 AD and is associated with Comet Halley.
Linked to Comet Encke, the Taurids are a long duration shower in spring peaking in the first week of November. There are two branches: one near the star cluster Pleiades and the other close to the red star Aldebaran in Taurus, each giving 10 meteors per hour that can be bright and slow with colourful fireballs.
Stars and constellations
Scorpius is clear in the west at sunset with claws to the horizon and curved tail high above against the dense star fields of the galaxy.
Low in the north close to the horizon is a small faint ‘smudge’ which is the Andromeda Galaxy M31, the furthest object visible to the naked eye at 2.5 million light years.
In the north-west three bright stars, Vega (Lyra) and Deneb (Cygnus, the swan) are low to the horizon and Altair (Aquila, the eagle) is above. To the First Peoples of Port Phillip Bay, the Boonwurrong, Altair is the wedge-tailed eagle Bunjil the creator spirit.
In the south-east Achernar shines at the head of the river Eridanus, and the Large and Small Clouds of Magellan, can be seen. In the Boorong tradition they are Kourtchin, a pair of dancing brolgas, the larger is a male trumpeting, while a female is displaying nearby. These are clearly visible from dark skies all year round.
Lower and further south is Canopus, the second brightest star in the night sky. The Southern Cross or Bunya the possum sitting in a tree, is now seen in the south-west with the Two Pointers almost vertical above it.
For more about First Peoples astronomy visit the Australian Indigenous Astronomy website.
On this day
3rd 1942, first object to reach space, the experimental V2 (‘Vengeance’) rocket, was launched from Peenemünde, Germany in a brief flight over the Baltic.
4th 1957, Sputnik (USSR) was launched to become the first artificial satellite.
4th 2004, SpaceShipOne was launched as the first private spacecraft into space.
5th 1923, Edwin Hubble (USA) established that M31, the Andromeda Galaxy, is separate to our own Milky Way Galaxy.
7th 1959, first photos of the moon’s far side are taken by Luna 3 (USSR).
9th 1604, a Type1A supernova 20,000 light years away in constellation Ophiucus is visible from Earth, and on 17th Johannes Kepler observes and publishes his account of the new star. It is the most recent supernova visible to the naked eye in our galaxy.
10th 1967, the United Nations’ Outer Space Treaty on the peaceful exploration and use of space was established. By now 109 nations are signatories and several other agreements and conventions have been created to cover space law.
11th 1958, Pioneer 1 (USA), a battery- powered probe aiming for lunar orbit, fails to reach escape velocity and burns up.
11th 1968, first crewed Apollo mission, Apollo 7 (USA), launched into Earth orbit in test of Saturn V rocket and Command and Service Module (CSM).
12th 1964, USSR’s Voskhod 1 (‘Sunrise’) was the first spacecraft with a crew of more than one. In this case, three cosmonauts who orbited for 41 hours.
13th 1773, the Whirlpool Galaxy M51a, 31 million light years away in constellation of Canes Venatica, is discovered by astronomer Charles Messier.
18th 1967, Venera 4 (USSR) is the first probe to analyse the atmosphere of another planet when it does so at Venus.
19th 1910, birth of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar who had major insights into stellar evolution and black holes.
24th 1998, Deep Space 1 (USA) probe was launched to test innovative technologies, including an ion engine, while visiting Asteroid Braille and Comet Borrelly.
27th 1994, first sub-stellar object orbiting a star is found, a brown dwarf at Gliese 229.
29th 1991, Galileo probe (USA) is the first to visit an asteroid, Gaspra 951, on its way to Jupiter.
31st 2000, Expedition 1, first resident crew of the International Space Station, arrived by a Russian Soyuz craft for a 136 day stay lasting until March 2001. The three-person crew (one American and two Russians) made the station fully operational, hosted three visiting US Space Shuttles, and received two Russian Progress supply vehicles.