Moon
Last Quarter 2nd 02:11
-- 12:06
New 10th 05:27 -- 21:29
First Quarter 18th 12:51
-- 01:48 New 10th 05:27 -- 21:29
Full 25th 21:43 -- 05:07
Winter seems to be still with us, though there are some signs of spring. House Martins have arrived, poor fools, but the bitter wind isn't spring like. We have had some clearer skies and that's promising.
Planets
Mercury isn't to be seen till after the 18th as it sets half an hour
after the Sun, at mag -1.5. on later nights it moves further away from the Sun
so is easier to see and for longer too. On the 22nd it will have increased a
little in size but dimmed a little to mag -1.1, and will exhibit an 85% phase.
At the end of the month it will set 90 mins after the Sun, be mag -0.3 and show
a 63% phase.
Venus is available on the 1st half an hour after the Sun has set,
about 8:30pm. At mag -3.9 it's bright enough to overcome the effects of bright
twilight for that half hour. By the end of the month it will be a little
further away from the Sun, so visible in darker skies, but very much the same
apparent brightness and size and exhibiting much the same phase.
Mars is very close to the Sun and may only be seen on the morning of
the 31st, 20 mins before the Sun rises, in very bright twilight of course. So
not really worth the effort unless you're doing it to prove you can.
Jupiter can be seen from dusk on the 1st till it sets at 11:45pm.
Reduced to 33 arcsec and mag -2.0. At the end of the month it will be available
from dusk till it sets at 10:15pm, not much more than an hour and all of it in
twilight. It will be mag -1.9 and 33 arcsec in size.
Saturn will rise on the 1st at 8:30pm on the Libra/Virgo border, at
mag +0.1 and 19 arcsec. the rings will be wide enough to generate the Wow! we
all know, but wait till it's up enough to show itself well. It will rise only
about 20% above the southern horizon which won't make for a good apparition
this year. By the end of the month it will be available all night, from dusk to
dawn, though the night will be much shorter than we'd like it to be. It will
also be moving away from us, giving us a mag +0.3 and 18 arcsec disc.
Uranus will rise an hour before the Sun, about 5:20am, so may be
seen, a mag +5.9, 3 arcsec disc, in twilight, not likely to see the colour that
can be seen in dark skies. It will set before the Sun so can only be seen in
the morning. At the end of the month it will rise in early dawn, 3:20am, so can
be seen till the Sun makes the sky too bright, perhaps by 5am.
Neptune will rise at 4:20am again in twilight, a tiny mag +7.9 disc
that can only be seen till the Sun brightens the sky too much. By the end of
the month it will rise at 2:25am, darker twilight so a better chance of
catching this small disc. Difficult in binoculars, may need a telescope, a goto
telescope to find and see it.
Meteor Showers
Lots of very minimal showers promising no more than 5 meteors at the
top of the sky.
Comets
C/2011 L4 Panstarrs is still with us. On the 1st it will be on the
Cepheus/Cassiopeia border, at 10pm at mag +7.6. On the 8th, a week later it
will be further up Cepheus, making its way towards Kochab in Ursa Minor, at mag
8.1. On the 13th it will be mag +8.4 and within 12 arcmins of Gamma CEP, and
possibly hidden by its mag +3.2 glare. By the end of the month it will have
passed the pole and into Ursa Minor at mag +9.5.
Comet ISON is still a long way off, very faint. It'll start to show itself in October and then quite suddenly.
Comet ISON is still a long way off, very faint. It'll start to show itself in October and then quite suddenly.