Astronomy / The Sky Report: Sept 15 – Oct 20

Astronomy

SKY REPORT Looking UP

By Greg Smith

Sept. 15 – Oct 20

Moon Phases:

New: Sun, Sept 25 1st Quarter: Sun, Oct 2nd Full: Sun, Oct 9th 3rd Quarter: Thurs., Oct. 17th

Fall is here. The summer constellations are moving out to the southwest. The summer triangle is leaving its overhead dominance. The Constellation of Pegasus is starting to take the prominent position in the Autumn sky. It will be in full command by 8:30pm in the evening.

End of twilight - when the stars start to come out:

Thurs, Sept 15th, 7:53pm Fri, Sept 30, 7:23pm Thurs, Oct 20th, 6:47pm

The Evening Sky

By September 25th Saturn and Jupiter are above the Eastern Horizon after sunset. Mars will rise around 10:45 pm in the Northeastern sky. Saturn will be in the southeast bright and easy to spot. Jupiter will be in the East, and quite bright. The best viewing is during New Moon around Sun Sept. 25, when the moon is not in the night sky at all. The next best time is after the third quarter moon (Oct 17th) when the evening night sky is dark for most of the night to do your best viewing.

The Morning Sky

Venus and Mercury are not to be seen, as they are very near the Sun at sunrise.

Night Sky Spectacle: (M13) the Hercules Globular Cluster

This cluster of stars is a fuzzball object visible in binoculars. It is located at this time of year high in the northwest not far from the very bright star Vega. It is located in the body of Hercules, a four star squarish trapezoid shape (see star chart at left for location of M13). A small telescope will reveal this as a dense pack of stars. It’s quite a beautiful sight to behold. The chart also shows the location of M92, another globular cluster. It, too, is a pretty sight to see. •••

We will rock you!

The Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Friends of Mineralogy invites you to the 47th Annual Mineral Symposium & Show Crystal Oddities Fri 5-9pm Sat 9am-9pm Sun 9am-12 noon

October 14-16 • Red Lion Inn • Kelso, Washington FREE Admission to the Mineral Show and Dealer Area

Main Floor Dealers:

EARTH’S TREASURES • LEHIGH MINERALS • XTAL • PACIFIC RIM MINERALS

Additional Room Dealers will be selling minerals from Pacific Northwest and worldwide locations. Featuring at least 16 displays of world-class minerals, including one from Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks & Minerals

Featured Symposium Speakers

Erin Delventhal, Rick Kennedy, Frank Ruehlicke, and more!

A Registration Fee is required to attend the Symposium. For more information, including registration deadlines and costs, visit www.pnwfm.org or contact: Karen Hinderman (khiunderman79@gmail.com) or Bruce Kelley (bruce.kelley@gmail.com

Possible water world spotted orbiting a nearby star

Planet, up to 30% water, to be a top target for James Webb Space Telescope By Greg Smith

Ahabitable-zone ocean planet has been discovered orbiting a red dwarf in a binary star system only 100 light-years away from Earth. Yes, a possible habitable world has been found. Named TOI-1452b, it is larger than Earth with a diameter of 1.67 times that of Earth and a mass 4.8 times greater. Meaning you would weigh quite a bit more there than you would on Earth. Not a place for weight watchers and dieters. This is known as a super Earth, too small to be a gas planet, like Jupiter, but larger than a terrestrial planet like Earth or Venus. This planet exists in its star’s habitable zone and orbits the star in 11.1 earth days. The star is a red dwarf smaller and cooler than our sun. This allows its habitable zone to be closer in than our habitable zone. This planet is comfortably temperate, and its water is very likely liquid. This planet is high on the list of objects the James Webb Space Telescope will examine. JWST will be looking at its atmospheric chemical composition and for biosignatures (possible life signs). The planet orbits one of the two red dwarf stars. The second star (also a red dwarf) is farther away than Pluto is to Earth. So, indeed a very bright star in the night sky and possibly visible in the daytime sky, depending on where the planet is in its 11-Earth day year around its primary star. A red dwarf is the smallest of the classified stars and the most numerous in our galaxy. An M4 is a mid M class star and has a temperature of about 3200 degrees, (our sun is about 5700 degrees). This planet has a potential pleasant daily temperature. If it has seasons, it’s way too early to know. An observer on this planet might be able to see our yellow sun in its night sky. How long a day is on this planet won’t be known for some time, but the JWST might be able to figure that out. Its being in the habitable zone might mean that it is not locked to face its sun all the time. It will be a while till we may know how many of its days make one of its years. Fun fact: In the Star Trek TV series the planet Spock came from, orbited a Red Dwarf star. •••

Longview resident

Greg Smith is past president of Friends of Galileo. Meet him and other club members at monthly meetings in Longview. For more info about FOG, visit friendsofgalileo.com.