This column was provided by San Benito resident and amateur astronomer David Baumgartner as part of a local series on astronomy. Lea este artículo en español aquí.
For most people it can be very difficult to locate and pin down the location of the planets in the night sky. The brighter ones like Venus and Jupiter can be somewhat easier to find, if you know where to look, mainly because of their movement and overwhelming brilliance compared to the stars around them.
But how do you think you would fare trying to find these two beauties in the daytime? Yes, I did say the daytime. Venus will be up in our day sky for almost 13 hours this month. That should give you plenty of time to find our sister planet. A good time to try this is the morning of the 5th as the sun comes up, the moon will be 3° north of Venus. At this time Venus will be easy to find, but much harder to keep track of as time goes by. (Another great song from back in the forties, which has absolutely nothing to do with this article).
But trying to find them may be somewhat less than difficult. Now I must admit that I have found them in the daytime, but with the aid of my go-to telescope. As long as my scope is aligned properly, all I have to do is punch in the co-ordinance of each planet and it will search them out. It is almost like cheating. Sure the view is not as spectacular as it is at night, but that is not what you are looking for here anyway. What you are looking for is just knowing you are able to find them in the daytime.
One way to locate our wondering friends is to catch the planets at day brake when they are still easy to find. Then continue to follow the planet as the sun rises, and see how long you can track them. But once you take your eye off of the planet and try to go back and find it again you are almost certain to lose it.
Another way is to position the planet near a landmark like a tree or some other terrestrial point for reference just in case you temporarily lose sight of the planet as the sky begins to brighten. You can go a long ways with this method, if you have the patience. But this month we have an extra aid in the sky to help us not only locate but also to keep track of our targets— the moon. On October 21st around sunrise the moon will break its way through the morning horizon followed by the planet Jupiter just 6° south.
The moon gives us an extra aid with finding the daytime planets. For one thing, the moon is much easier to find in the sky because of its large appearance. So on that morning first you need to spot the moon/Jupiter, center the planet in your eyepiece and off you go. Now see how long you can keep it in sight. If you happen to have a telescope that has the capability of tracking you will have it made. Look at it all day if you want.
Very important: “Be careful not to accidentally look directly at the sun with your scope, spotting scope, or binoculars without a solar filter protecting your vision. Even a second of exposure may damage your retina for life.”
To give you an idea of the size of Venus versus the size of the sun, take a look at the picture I took, above, of a Venus Transit a couple of years ago up on Quien Sabe Rd. just east of Hollister. Given Venus is almost identical in size to our Earth, this picture gives you an idea just how small and insignificant we are. Note that the moon is four hundred times smaller than the Earth. Not that I planned it, but just as I snapped this photo along comes this upside down Boeing 707 with 188 passengers aboard. If you look carefully you can count the heads in the windows. I may be a little off with the count. It’s odd that I have been trying to get a shot like this for over fifty years, and it turns out to be an accident. But the main thing here is; I got the picture.
Now that you have found the two giants in the sky, think to yourself, how many people have ever seen this wondrous event in the Day Time? Not many I’ll tell you. Might just be the two of us….
If that’s not enough to keep you busy, then how about a meteor shower? From the 2nd of October through the 7th of November and peaking on the 21st of October we have the Orionids shower. Best time to view them would be around 3 a.m. They will be radiant from the constellation Orion. You will catch a few sightings before midnight, but at somewhat limited amounts.
Saturn makes its way back into our sky in October and will be up the entire night. Jupiter will be up as well. Two of the most beautiful sights in our night sky. Well, if you had nothing to do the month of October, now you do. There is always something up in our night skies (or as we just found out, day skies as well) that we find interesting to look at. It never ceases to amaze or amuse me. Clear skies.
What’s up this month
Oct. 02: New Moon
Oct. 02: Moon is at apogee (252,597 miles from Earth)
Oct. 05: Moon passes 3° south of Venus
Oct. 07: Moon passes 0.2° south of Antares
Oct. 10: First Quarter Moon
Oct. 14: Moon passes 0.1° north of Saturn
Oct. 15: Moon passes 0.6° north of Neptune
Oct. 16: Moon is at perigee (221,939 miles from Earth
Oct. 17: Full Moon
Oct. 19: Moon passes 4° north of Uranus
Oct. 21: Orionids meteor shower peaks
Oct. 21: Mars passes 6° south of Pollux
Oct. 21: Moon passes 6° north of Jupiter
Oct. 23: Moon passes 4° north of Mars
Oct. 24: Last quarter Moon
Oct. 25: Venus passes 3° north of Antares
Oct. 29: Moon is at apogee (252,377 miles from Earth)
The post Searching the Sky: During the day appeared first on BenitoLink.