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Oct 01

What’s Up in the Sky

What’s Up in the Sky – October, 2014

Eclipse Month

A week from tomorrow, Wednesday, October 8, will begin with a celestial show that many readers have witnessed in the past.  The Moon will pass through the Earth’s shadow, resulting in a total lunar eclipse.  You will have to get up early, however, to see it because the first stage will begin at 5:15 a.m.  Not to worry.  It doesn’t really get very interesting until about 6 a.m.  when the Moon will be well-engulfed in darkness with a golden crescent still showing.  The total eclipse phase will occur between 6:30 and 7:30 a.m. with the greatest eclipse at 6:55 a.m.

What makes this eclipse interesting is that the full Moon (lunar eclipses always occur during a full Moon) will set while still partially eclipsed.  That means the best place to watch this is on the lakeshore.  Realistically, very few of us have a view of Lake Michigan at 6 a.m. so make it your goal to at least see the Moon at some point during the total phase of the eclipse.  You won’t be disappointed.

While you are at it, direct your gaze to the southeast, halfway between the horizon and the zenith (directly overhead) to see the planet Jupiter,  You can’t miss it as it will be the brightest thing in the sky until the Sun comes up.  Use binoculars or a small telescope to see its four largest satellites.

Two weeks later, on Thursday, October 23, another eclipse occurs, this time involving the sun.  Unfortunately, it will  only be a partial solar eclipse. We have to wait until August 21, 2017, to see a total solar eclipse here in the USA (you heard it here first).  Regardless, a partial solar eclipse is still pretty cool as long as you DO NOT look directly at it.  The bad news is that it will also set during the eclipse so here’s what to do.  Around 6 p.m. take a pair of binoculars and a piece of white poster board (any white paper will do) and point the binoculars at the sun WITHOUT looking through them.  Project the resulting image onto the poster board and adjust the distance between the binoculars and the white board until the image is sharp.  You should see the sun with a bite taken out of it.  Again, DO NOT look through the binoculars because you will burn your retina.  It is not always safe to look directly at what’s up in the sky.

This month in history:
Oct. 1:  Yerkes Observatory dedicates 40 inch refractor – 1897
Oct. 4:  Space Age begins when Sputnik 1, first artificial satellite, is launched  – 1957
Oct. 9:  Johannes Kepler observes supernova – 1604
Oct. 14: Chuck Yeager breaks sound barrier – 1947
Oct. 19: Subramanyan Chandrasekhar born – 1910
Oct. 24: William Lassell discovers Uranus moons Umbriel and Ariel – 1851