![]() It spans some 12' across, which translates to a physical diameter of about 90 light-years at its vast distance some 26,000 light-years from Earth. They are separated by just 3°, with Vesta east-northeast of the dense ball of stars.Īt magnitude 7.2, M30 is just a tad fainter than the asteroid. Although it’s started to move away, tonight, the magnitude 6.8 world still sits near the globular cluster M30. Now that the Moon has moved away from Capricornus, let’s return to this constellation to try our luck at spotting 4 Vesta. DARK MOONLIGHT BACKGROUND FULLThe Moon will continue to look nearly Full through Tuesday, dominating the sky after dark. Our satellite now lies in southeastern Pisces, some 17° east of Jupiter. October’s Full Moon is also known as the Hunter’s Moon. Watch the eastern sky as it grows lighter which stars disappear first, and which can you follow the longest?įull Moon officially occurs at 4:55 P.M. And, of course, nearby is the brightest star in the sky: magnitude –1.4 Sirius, some 26° southwest of Procyon. Look another 37.5° west, and you’ll hit magnitude 0.4 Procyon, the brighter of the two main stars that make up Canis Minor. Some 28° west of Mercury is magnitude 1.4 Regulus, the heart of Leo the Lion. It’s not the only bright light in the sky before dawn steals the dark away. Still a bright magnitude –0.5, through a telescope, Mercury appears 55 percent lit and 7" across. Mercury rises about 90 minutes before the Sun an hour before sunrise, the solar system’s smallest planet is 5° high in western Virgo. We’ll catch up with this planet in just a few hours, early tomorrow morning. Mercury reaches greatest western elongation at 5 P.M. The entire time, Callisto sits far to Jupiter’s west, staying out of the theatrics. Io won’t reappear until tomorrow morning for those in the eastern half of the U.S., emerging from the shadow just as Ganymede did, to Jupiter’s east, around 1:15 A.M. About half an hour later, Europa leaves the western edge of the disk its shadow follows about 45 minutes later. EDT, Io disappears behind Jupiter’s western limb in an occultation. EDT, following the moon from east to west. And speaking of shadows, Europa’s trails onto the cloud tops around 9:25 P.M. Less than 10 minutes later, Ganymede appears about 20" from the eastern limb, emerging from long shadow that stretches behind the planet. EDT, Europa is passing onto the disk from the east. There’s a lot going on around the king of planets, too. EDT - and at magnitude –2.9, this is a much better target for tonight. The Moon passes 2° south of Jupiter at 2 P.M. We’ll revisit this tiny target when conditions are better. Unfortunately, because it is so small and faint, its feeble light will be difficult to find even with a large amateur scope because the Moon is so bright. The distant dwarf planet Pluto is stationary at 2 P.M. The Moon’s illumination is given at 12 P.M. *Times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset are given in local time from 40° N 90° W. But in 2014, that planet disappeared - and researchers realized it had never been a planet at all, but likely the icy remains of a massive collision that previously took place within the disk. It is perhaps most famous for its protoplanetary disk, within which astronomers believed they’d spotted a young planet with the Hubble Space Telescope. Fomalhaut is a young star some 25 light-years away. Of course, those in the Southern Hemisphere enjoy this star at a much higher altitude in the sky. An hour after sunset, it is 6.5° high in the southeast and rising. At magnitude 7.7, you’ll need binoculars or a telescope to make out Neptune’s small disk it may prove a challenge with the bright, nearly Full Moon so close by.Įasier to find may be the magnitude 1.2 glow of Fomalhaut, the brightest star in Piscis Austrinus, which sits south of Aquarius. Both are visible after sunset in northeastern Aquarius, near where the constellation’s border with Pisces. In the evening sky, the Moon will pass 3° south of Neptune at 11 P.M. Currently in Capricornus, the main-belt world will now start moving northeast toward Aquarius, where our targets for tonight lie. ![]()
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