October 12
The Moon will slip between Earth and the Sun tomorrow, beginning
a new cycle of phases. For most of us, that means the Moon will
disappear in the Sun’s glare. But skywatchers in Hawaii and Alaska
will get a reminder of the Moon’s presence: a partial solar
eclipse, where the Moon takes a
”
bite
”
out of the Sun’s disk.
October 12
The Moon will slip between Earth and the Sun tomorrow, beginning a new cycle of phases. For most of us, that means the Moon will disappear in the Sun’s glare. But skywatchers in Hawaii and Alaska will get a reminder of the Moon’s presence: a partial solar eclipse, where the Moon takes a “bite” out of the Sun’s disk.
October 13
The Moon is new today, which means it is crossing between Earth and the Sun, so it’s lost in the Sun’s glare. It will return to view in a couple of days as a thin crescent low in the southwest in early evening.
October 14
Ursa Major hunkers low in the north on autumn evenings. Americans see its brightest stars as the Big Dipper. In England, though, these stars are seen as a plow. October is a good time to visualize a plow because it stands just above the horizon.
October 15
A thin crescent Moon pops into view low in the southwest as darkness falls this evening. As the sky grows darker, the entire lunar disk should become visible.
October 16
One of our nearest galactic neighbors climbs high across the sky tonight. The galaxy is M33, in the constellation Triangulum, the triangle. It’s low in the northeast at nightfall, and high overhead by midnight.
October 17
The crescent Moon beams in front of the stars of Scorpius early this evening. The scorpion’s brightest star, Antares, shines a bit to the right of the Moon.
October 18
Lacerta, the lizard, soars overhead around 10pm. It is a zigzagging line of stars between the prominent constellations Cygnus and Cassiopeia.
University of Texas
McDonald Observatory
