Podcaster: Shane and Chris
Title: Objects to Observe in the October 2021 Night Sky
Organization: Actual Astronomy
Link : https://actualastronomy.podbean.com/
Description: The Actual Astronomy Podcast presents Objects to Observe in the October 2021 Night Sky. This eposide places a focus on Mercury and Venus as they put on their best shows for Autumn 2021 while Jupiter as several Double Shadow transits are easily visible through small telescopes. Saturn, Jupiter, Venus and Uranus also pair with the Moon again and along with Neptune all the large outer solar system giants are well placed for telescopic observations. At the end a couple comets that may be visible in the near future are discussed.
Bio: Shane and Chris are amateur astronomers who enjoy teaching astronomy classes and performing outreach where they help the eyes of the public to telescope eyepieces.
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Transcript:
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Chris Beckett: and welcome to episode 157 of the actual astronomy podcast the objects to observe in the October 2021 night sky I am Chris and joining me a shame we are amateur astronomers to love looking at.
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Chris Beckett: This podcast Is anyone else likes going into the stars How are things looking for your October observing shane.
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Shane Ludtke: looking good we we got an email from Eric again Eric is from Calgary so he’s about what is that I don’t know 700 kilometers away from us.
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Chris Beckett: Like and.
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Shane Ludtke: sort of in the middle is you know.
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Shane Ludtke: grasslands national park and might might be a little bit further for Eric but we’re we’re loosely talking about meeting up there for Canadian thanksgiving and doing.
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Shane Ludtke: Some observing so.
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Shane Ludtke: I don’t know about you, Chris but if the weather is good, I think i’m going to make the trip.
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Good.
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Chris Beckett: yeah i’m thinking about running down for a night or two depending on on how cold it’s.
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Chris Beckett: it’s going to get kind of kind of depends on at it at this time of year and the weather’s is a bit variable but yeah if I can do it, and so we’re going to disguise i’ll go and if not, I will be eating Turkey at home.
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Shane Ludtke: Exactly exactly.
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Chris Beckett: yeah sounds good that’s that’s pretty exciting, so you know, as I was up this morning and I was looking at a random moon was up but Ryan was.
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Chris Beckett: Was there and the moon is is still pretty bright, especially from a dark side you know it’s a week almost a week past full guess it’s about six days past fall and.
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Chris Beckett: yeah but promote here it’s dark enough that that, basically, everything is is lit up it looks almost like like daytime here, but with that much three quarters moon even.
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Chris Beckett: But you can see the orion nebula like naked eye like just barely and the sort of a Ryan, and you know, probably getting down to maybe like fifth magnitude right now but.
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Chris Beckett: I didn’t bother observing because I was having trouble sleeping and with that moon at bay I just didn’t didn’t feel like going up and like super waking up to to observe.
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Chris Beckett: You know when when I probably need you to get a little bit of sleep for for the week, I have a head, but looks like we’ve got some some good stuff coming up in October.
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Shane Ludtke: yeah yeah we do it’s I think it’s going to be a good month and.
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Shane Ludtke: You know we’ll talk a little bit about comments probably towards the end but where there’s going to be a comment watch starting here as we get into the winter season kind of excited for that too.
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Chris Beckett: yeah so in in our you know sort of I guess outline that we put out every year, we did it last year, so i’m going to say every year now we’ve done it every year, you can do.
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Chris Beckett: like that.
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Chris Beckett: We we talked about the best event probably be in mercury is going to make its best morning apparition for the northern hemisphere and Venus.
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Chris Beckett: will be good in the evening for for Southern Hemisphere observers Venus is pretty low like i’ve been watching it but it’s too low, I think, to observe.
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well.
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Shane Ludtke: yeah yeah I agree it’s it’s too low and the atmosphere will kind of mess things up, and if you have any hope of seeing some of the cloud.
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Shane Ludtke: detail on Venus you need it as high in the sky as possible and pretty good conditions in order to see any of that.
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Chris Beckett: yeah and Jupiter is going to have some double shadow transits and those can be fun to watch through small telescopes I know you’ve seen quite a few of those as a via those are those are pretty fun to try to observe.
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Shane Ludtke: yeah yeah those are wonderful and those those can be a bit of a test of the, seeing as well, and a you know, a night with good seeing conditions, the the shadow that those little galilean moons cast is just like a real sharp.
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Shane Ludtke: Like blot of ink.
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Shane Ludtke: it’s pretty cool to see, and you know i’ve said it many times I just like watching solar system movement I think it’s really cool to see that and and to watch, you know that black shadow Doc kind of you know, move across Jupiter over the period of the evening is a lot of fun.
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Chris Beckett: yeah and Saturn Jupiter Venus and uranus and Neptune pro gonna I think are going to pair with the moon, at some point during the month and be well placed.
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Chris Beckett: And also, like all those doing gas giants names giants are that they’re going to be well well visible sort of last chance to get some good views of Saturn and Jupiter.
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Chris Beckett: While they’re high up and then good opportunities to find uranus Neptune I think they’re going to be well pleased for telescopic observation so good chance to have those down.
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Shane Ludtke: I don’t.
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Chris Beckett: So October 1 you know coming up you reminded me and I was like whoa that’s right.
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Chris Beckett: I.
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Chris Beckett: gotta put out this this episode I nearly forgot, but we have we have all the notes for these and we create all the notes for the stuff to observe in the run of the year.
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Chris Beckett: ahead of time and i’ll be doing that again here over the next few months and around Christmas oh i’ll take my Christmas break and and produce this as well.
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Chris Beckett: My plan, there is to is to actually produce much of the work for the observers calendar during during that period of time, and I know that there was discussion on having a meeting about the observers calendar.
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Chris Beckett: I know some people think it should be electronic and maybe we should have an electronic version and then others were were adamant to to keep selling the physical calendars you know i’m i’m pretty open to whoever people.
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Chris Beckett: You know, have had for suggestions I think there’s some interesting opportunities there, I think, the one thing, though, is that we.
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Chris Beckett: were a bit slow, with the observers calendar every year from this is the town i’m going to be editor up with the Royal astronomical society of Canada.
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Chris Beckett: But it can be a little bit slow to to hit the newsstands and hit the online marketplaces like I think it’s all that sky and telescope and a bunch of other online retailers, but.
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Chris Beckett: One of the challenges we have is combining some of the stuff that’s in the observers handbook so we have the observers handbook and it gets put out every autumn.
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Chris Beckett: And i’m also a contributing editor for that or contributor contributing writer and i’m not really an editor i’m not there at all for that I just just write a couple sections.
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Chris Beckett: But that book contains some some of the same information and we have to wait on that information to put in that book.
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Chris Beckett: But we’re also waiting for that information to go into the calendar as well, and my thinking is that we actually just.
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Chris Beckett: Leave the information that’s well suited for for the handbook and handbook and then maybe we we put other information in the in the calendar, so that we can actually get it out a little bit sooner so that’s my plan that’s my other plan for the fall.
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Shane Ludtke: sounds well i’m excited to see the output.
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Chris Beckett: yeah well we’ll see how it goes but October 1 we have the zodiacal late it becomes visible in the eastern morning sky when the moon needs to see here over the over the next week or so and.
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Chris Beckett: What does it accolade is it’s kind of it’s kind of interesting actually Dave champion was on a couple months ago, talking about this it’s.
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Chris Beckett: it’s some interplanetary or maybe planetary dust now is a good way to describe it.
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Chris Beckett: Being that that some of this material seems to be or maybe much of it seems to be coming from Mars and it’s visible during autumn mornings.
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Chris Beckett: In that Eastern sky kind of looks like a pyramid it’s sort of doesn’t really look like Milky Way but it doesn’t really quite look like like solution and it’s sort of like the sphinx.
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Chris Beckett: Being pillar of light that you can see in the plane of the solar system kind of in that path of the planets in the ecliptic.
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Chris Beckett: And you know where where the planets tend to hang out so and I can’t remember I can’t have i’ve seen it in the morning skies matchups and evening sky in the spring, quite a bit of your Saturday morning sky.
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Shane Ludtke: Oh no I don’t think so, and part of that is just I rarely observe at that time of the day, so usually sleeping.
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Chris Beckett: yeah.
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Shane Ludtke: yeah yeah but definitely seen a quite a few times in the evening, but you know just as you’re mentioning this is thinking it’s it’s been a while, since i’ve even seen it in the evening, so I might make an attempt to observe it this fall.
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Chris Beckett: yeah I haven’t second record I feel like I haven’t seen it either in the morning and I, but I do get up and observe in the morning quite a bit.
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Chris Beckett: But the entire or or i’m pretty focused on whatever i’m going through whether it’s i’m going to excite and doing some deep sky observing or.
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Chris Beckett: we’re doing some planetary observing or whatever, so you seem pretty focused and and if the planet, sometimes i’m getting up, just as the skies brightening anyway so i’m.
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Chris Beckett: not going to notice something like be yeah like the zodiacal late or in the city often i’m in the city during my early morning observations and.
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Chris Beckett: And then that’s that’s not going to work ball for proceeding this October 6 coming up we’re just like that’s, just like the week that’s, just like the week after this week, which is like next week.
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Shane Ludtke: yeah it’s really.
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Chris Beckett: yeah so that’s noon, and of course that’s you know around that time is going to be the best time to to start to Skype jernigan actually I and i’ve run this.
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Chris Beckett: looks like Tuesday night and it’s gonna be really hot here today, so I know what our senior other conditions will be like but.
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Chris Beckett: Tuesday is is when we get pretty much like a couple hours of dark Sky, which makes it worthwhile to kind of go out and try some some dark sky observing one wants to travel to.
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Chris Beckett: To a dark sky say you know I remember one of her observers handbook editors rajiv gupta a number of years ago, this is a long time ago, actually.
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Chris Beckett: And he was the editor of the observers handbook when when I became an area see Member when I came a full memory was attending events for years, but then eventually became a member of the organization.
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Chris Beckett: And that’s our big astronomy organization, Canada and he was doing a talk at the at the Halifax Center is a member and he talked to this rule that you have to get more observing in and you spend driving, otherwise it feels like a lot of effort.
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Shane Ludtke: like that.
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Chris Beckett: I like that rule that that was a pretty smart rules so so if you’re gonna if you’re going to spend you know.
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Chris Beckett: A couple hours driving, then you got to spend a couple hours observing so that’s why I always think it’s it’s important like if the site is like around 45 minutes or so.
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Chris Beckett: Anyway, it’s going to be under it’s going to be under an hour because oftentimes your sessions will be the time you set up and observe.
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Chris Beckett: It sometimes it can be hard to do more than a couple hours in a night so.
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Chris Beckett: You know here I am right now recording this for a boat on the boat 45 minutes from home and I like to think that if i’m setting up observing.
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Chris Beckett: And usually not going to be much less than about an hour and a half, so that’s one of the reasons from one to find a place sort of with within that range from the city end class once you get more than about 45 minutes from the city here, where we live, it is pretty damn there.
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Shane Ludtke: yeah yeah like it, you know we’re fortunate in that regard our our province is quite large, but the density of population is is not, and a lot of the people live in two cities so.
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Shane Ludtke: When you get not too far out of our city you’re really in a lot of rural area and there’s you know we’re again we’re fortunate, we have a lot of access to some close dark skies.
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yep.
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Chris Beckett: October 19 Venus in the moon that’s our first pairing for the month so so it’s gonna be a great month because we’ve got dark skies start so.
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Chris Beckett: pretty much by the first we get a lot of dark sky, so you can you can observe three or four hours and even once the moon rises there’s there’s not much moon by the first and then on the ninth we just have a thin sliver and.
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Chris Beckett: And that’s going to pair with with Venus and it’s it’s in sort of that.
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Chris Beckett: One of those front clause of scorpius sort of the remainder client, there was a there used to be two flaws and one of them turned into libra, I think, but anyway.
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Chris Beckett: Venus and the moon, are going to be rate in that area of this guy and are going to make a beautiful pair in a really small low power wide field telescopes like you and I have or a pair of binoculars.
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Chris Beckett: Any pair of binoculars pretty much will be able to grab Venus and the moon together because they’re only going to be three degrees apart.
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Shane Ludtke: yeah that’ll be awesome.
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Chris Beckett: yeah I look forward to, I look forward to seeing that one i’m just trying to see what day of the week that was but not able to to figure that out as fast as any to make it to make it that.
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Chris Beckett: sensical in the Puck is all right so October 12 Jupiter is going to have some some shadow transits of gaining io and it’s going to be visible, this time from North America it’s going to be in progress at sunset fresh shane.
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Chris Beckett: But we can actually.
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Chris Beckett: Do this one, I think we had a pile earlier in the year but, unfortunately, when they were happening, and they weren’t really visible for us where they I think I recall that correctly.
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Shane Ludtke: yeah yeah I think you’re right So hopefully we have some clear skies, you know the the other nice thing about these.
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Shane Ludtke: shadow transits is you don’t need the dark sky like this is, you know something you can do from the backyard and it’s a pretty it’s pretty neat thing to see and it’s easily accessible.
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Chris Beckett: yeah cuz I think by the 12th we’re getting close to first quarter by the first quarter is going to be on the 13th so.
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Chris Beckett: As as we get the moon in the sky it’s either going to be pairing with planets or there’s going to be cool stuff going on with the planets and.
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Chris Beckett: Most of the planets are visible, so it says it’s going to be a really great month for for doing astronomy.
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Chris Beckett: My astronomy course actually that the course that I teach kicks up on this Wednesday and it’s going to run for for eight weeks so, unfortunately, I think our code cases are too high here right now, I think.
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Chris Beckett: Probably can’t be be getting people together for for doing sessions which i’d hope to but should be able to point people to lots of.
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Chris Beckett: Lots of interesting stuff so first quarter moon on the 13th and then over the next couple of nights.
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Chris Beckett: Is that nothing gets really to break to to do any deep Skype during going to be more difficult to observe.
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Chris Beckett: galaxies and nebula and clusters, but on the 14th and 15th it’s going to pair with Saturn and Jupiter and it’s going to be what four degrees.
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Chris Beckett: from them from from some areas of the front here, I think I think it’s a little bit further than four degrees looks like it’s closer to like six degrees.
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Chris Beckett: For each of those those planet Jupiter and Saturn moon pairing so seven degrees that that’s possible in that in a pair of pretty wide field au pair of binoculars and.
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Shane Ludtke: Oh yeah yeah.
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Shane Ludtke: Quite a few will will reach that.
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Shane Ludtke: Even I have some Labor Russian seven by that provide a seven degree field, I think that that’s quite common.
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Chris Beckett: huh yeah so that that should be possible, just it’s it’s neat to see the planets when they pair up with the moon like that.
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Chris Beckett: In the in the evening sky should be should be pretty cool and this this sort of dance between Jupiter Saturn and the moon in have been kind of playing out here for for the past.
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Chris Beckett: Really, like the past couple years now, because Jupiter and Saturn just have been.
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Chris Beckett: close to each other in the sky, in fact, we have that greets conjunction or whatever it’s called back last December, but they still remain.
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Chris Beckett: sort of in in more or less the same constellation sort of like in capricornus and aquarius but they’re only there only still about maybe 25 or 30 degrees part or something like that.
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Chris Beckett: So they’re not in the same field of view in in any optics but.
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Chris Beckett: But once one comes up well typically once one is up in good enough to observe the other one’s going to be up to but they’re they’re gradually moving further and further apart, but.
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Chris Beckett: Every month, we seem to be getting these these nights back to back where the moon Paris up with.
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Chris Beckett: With one, and then the other, so it sort of been kind of a neat thing to see and we’re going to get that for a few more months and then and then then we’ll go get far enough apart, that these will be nights and nights at that point.
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Shane Ludtke: yeah very cool.
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Chris Beckett: So the 18th we have another set of.
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Chris Beckett: transits going on on Jupiter can see those blank this, so what is.
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Chris Beckett: A shadow transit on Jupiter this time it’s gaining and I O and visible again here and very similar to the event on the 12, but what is a shadow transit on Jupiter saying.
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Shane Ludtke: Well, so attract like there’s there’s a number of different.
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Shane Ludtke: Trends it’s that we would potentially talk about as things to observe and basically what a transit means is, you will get to witness something in the solar system.
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Shane Ludtke: Typically.
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Shane Ludtke: pass another object, and you know the one of the more famous ones, I think, was probably the transit of Venus and what that was was Venus moved across the face of the sun that was observable from earth and that’s a pretty rare event, it only happens twice every hundred and 11 years.
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Shane Ludtke: Now transits shadow transits on Jupiter or just the four galilean moons can be any number of them what what is happening is they cast their shadow on the disk of the moon or sorry.
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Shane Ludtke: disk of Jupiter.
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Shane Ludtke: And then you can watch that shadow transit across the face of Jupiter now these happen all the time, these are not nearly as rare as when Venus would transit the sun, but.
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Shane Ludtke: You know, I think that there’s at least a couple of these opportunities every month that we talked about when Jupiter is in the sky in observable where you can see, this phenomenal and it’s pretty cool.
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Chris Beckett: yeah that’s a good point, and you know one thing when we are talking about our next event is if it is something that’s that’s where.
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Chris Beckett: we’re going to really highlight that otherwise we’re just talking about it it’s probably a neat thing to see something fun to see usually means stuff to observe in the night sky episodes most the stuff is going to be reasonably doable in either naked eye binoculars or small telescopes.
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Chris Beckett: But, but most of the stuff isn’t isn’t that were in this unless be highlighted, such as the October 20 full moon is not aware again.
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Shane Ludtke: it’s just a bright moon.
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Chris Beckett: it’s just a break moon and we say that because it seems like more and more they’re they’re making a big deal about.
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Chris Beckett: The super moons and different things like that and honestly I don’t know if I could see those super moons or not, as far as any difference.
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Chris Beckett: goes I I sketch the moon when you’re naked I sketched all the full moons friend of mine sketched it.
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Chris Beckett: In Ontario I was out here and yeah we I don’t think we definitively could say whether or not we could detect if it was brighter because it the actual brightness and how much brighter you can be.
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Chris Beckett: is more dependent on your atmosphere clarity so nights are a little bit.
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Chris Beckett: More humid and maybe had some slight haze the moon, is going to appear less bright and then, if it’s super clear it’s going to appear.
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Chris Beckett: You know much, much brighter so yeah anyway so that’s that’s kind of the full moon business, but on the on the 21st there’s the rain reminded meteor shower but.
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Chris Beckett: Of course, that that full moon having done just before is going to probably bloody most those meteors but.
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Chris Beckett: it’s actually worth observing that night at not the orion meteor shower it’s worth going to observe on October 21 because that that just passed for moon is going to be only 1.3 degrees south.
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Chris Beckett: Of uranus for some observers, I think, for us it’s it’s about two and a half or three degrees away.
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Chris Beckett: But uranus is is the what seventh planet.
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Chris Beckett: it’s not that Brady hangs around five and a half or six magnitude, so you need a pair of binoculars to see it.
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Chris Beckett: But with the moon so close to it gives you a really good opportunity to hunt down uranus without having to to use like your software.
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Chris Beckett: Or look up some star trek’s on the Internet or anything like that you can just sort of put October 21 on your calendar and go with that night find the moon, and then just above and to the right or to the.
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Chris Beckett: To the Northwest is going to be Venus and like I said, for some people it’s going to be really close, for us, will be a few degrees away but you’d be able to see that.
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Chris Beckett: In your binoculars without really need much in the way of star trek training because because about a six manager star five and a half magnitude star isn’t really that thing you will need binoculars to see it.
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Chris Beckett: But it should be possible to to pinpoint uranus on on that night weather ready, but I think there’s or you could hunt it down and then then observe it, you know, in a telescope, which is a lot of fun too.
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Shane Ludtke: yeah and you know if you have.
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Shane Ludtke: Especially like a little bit more aperture like like feels new eight inch Sony and.
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Shane Ludtke: really show your uranus quite nicely, and you.
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Shane Ludtke: Potentially can see some of the color there it’s a you’re not going to really see any surface detail the goal really is to resolve it as a desk and not a star, and you know again if you can you might be able to teach some color to that as well.
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Chris Beckett: yeah yeah no good good point, a lot of people have that eight inch reflectors that’s pretty common and astronomical equipment amongst amateur astronomers.
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Chris Beckett: Some people listening to this become a cup what a what an eight inch Sony Ian is, and that is pretty much one of our top recommendations for people getting going because they’re really good.
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Chris Beckett: relatively inexpensive and and and easy to use and so Those are the three things you want to you want to take when you’re getting into amateur astronomy and I think that that.
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Chris Beckett: And as well, even though I think phil’s been doing this for a couple years now, or whatever.
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Chris Beckett: You know he’s he’s kind of bought this telescope and I think it’s it’s a good choice for just about anybody to have regardless of your other gear I think an eight inch dub Sonia is is sort of really the one of the work courses or the amateur astronomy.
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Shane Ludtke: Totally yeah yeah it’s a wonderful telescope.
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Chris Beckett: So then, on the 25th we have mercury greatest elongation West, that means it’s visible.
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Chris Beckett: In the morning sky or we say because you see greatest elongation West unique Oh, the West if something’s in the West, like a planet is in the West you’re looking at in the evening sky.
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Chris Beckett: But greatest elongation West just means you know which side of of the sun it’s on it, but that means is going to be this morning sky, so I say basically October 25 that’s or mercury is going to be.
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Chris Beckett: Best visible in the morning sky or around that date sort of for a few days around but mercury stays pretty close to the horizon and that’s about the best view we’re going to have of it, I think it’s about 10 or 12 degrees up for us.
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Chris Beckett: So that’s still pretty close the rise in your fist at arm’s length is about 10 degrees and and if you hold that out.
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Chris Beckett: You know, and you sort of.
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Chris Beckett: You know, take a look at your horizons, like the true horizon out from.
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Chris Beckett: From flat, a lot of the time you’re going to have houses trees or other stuff in the way, so you might have to find a pretty good horizon somewhere.
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Chris Beckett: To try to hunt down on on the 25th that is as a mercury observer, I will be trying to I try to observe all of these and.
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Chris Beckett: yeah i’ll definitely be set up and trying to to make the observations on that that week of the 25th usually I get one night, where I know where it isn’t against see it.
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Chris Beckett: see it, or when morning, where I can see it and then usually get one out of three of the morning side right good observation.
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Chris Beckett: On the 26th we have another set of shadow transits on Jupiter this one is not easily visible from North America, though, so people will.
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Chris Beckett: will be able to see it from other parts of the world put in, where it is visible, so if you’re somewhere else.
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Chris Beckett: This one is going to be for you, so we do have listeners and in Japan and in England and some other countries and so so look that one up that one might be for you folks I think in the in the past, set other areas were favored this this time we seem to have.
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Chris Beckett: More favorable shadow transits for America October 20 is the last quarter moon and on the 29th we have Venus greatest elongation East so that means is visible in the evenings West and it’s not well placed here it’s really good for the southern hemisphere, but now well placed here.
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Chris Beckett: And that sort of it for for our planet and in and moon pairings and sort of a little bit of amateur astronomy mixed in, I don’t know if you have anything else to to add for the October set of those objects before we move on to comments.
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Shane Ludtke: I think let’s move on to candidates there’s a there’s a couple of exciting ones to talk about.
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Chris Beckett: yeah yeah go for it.
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Chris Beckett: You know more about these ones, and I do, I think.
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Shane Ludtke: Well, well, one of them i’ve been sort of tracking but the first one is eight P tuttle.
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Shane Ludtke: And it’s it’s going to be eighth magnitude and it looks like probably about eight magnitude for the whole month.
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Shane Ludtke: yeah I don’t see that on.
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Shane Ludtke: Your sheet is chart here.
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Chris Beckett: It was yeah it was listed in his weekly information on bright comments and you go and under there and then click it it’s actually cutting.
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Chris Beckett: Through let’s see which constellations cutting through in September it’s going to be way over in Hydra so that’s going to be.
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Chris Beckett: You know fairly difficult to to see probably the southern hemisphere, is going to be favored.
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Chris Beckett: For that one for sure, because it’s going to be probably getting free low on our on our horizon in the morning sky at that time of year if it was a Hydra.
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Chris Beckett: And it was in the spring of course we’d be able to see it, but for right now yeah it’s going to be like a morning sky I think if you’re safe than we are.
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Shane Ludtke: Right right.
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Shane Ludtke: At eighth magnitude, though, like that’s.
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Shane Ludtke: that’s becoming a binocular.
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Shane Ludtke: or gets so some potential there, which is kind of exciting.
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Shane Ludtke: But the one that I referenced at the start of the podcast is Comet it’s see.
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Shane Ludtke: Leonard this one is kind of captured or had the end or has the interest of the amateur astronomy committed Community since early on in the year here, so this Comet is right now so again.
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Shane Ludtke: We always say this comments.
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Shane Ludtke: The magnitude estimates our best guesses.
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Shane Ludtke: And there’s a lot of variability in how bright these comments get and sometimes they get you know as bright as predicted sometimes brighter and sometimes nowhere near as bright.
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Shane Ludtke: But this Comet awan Leonard is expected to hit magnitude for by December, and I think stay and you know quite bright for the month and magnitude, for you know that’s a naked eye Comet, which is extremely extremely rare but they don’t happen that often you know we just had Neil wise.
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Shane Ludtke: Last year.
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Shane Ludtke: For the was the last year or the year before now.
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Chris Beckett: Last year yeah.
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Shane Ludtke: yeah that one became a naked eye comment, it was beautiful, it was unexpected.
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Shane Ludtke: And it was really fun to observe so really starting kind of in October.
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Shane Ludtke: Leonard is going to start brightening and I think in October it’s still going to be pretty dim.
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Shane Ludtke: Actually, no it’s gonna it looks like it’s going to hit magnitude 11 in October, so you know that’s that’s telescopic range.
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Shane Ludtke: So really just just starting to mention it now we’ll talk about it more in November and certainly in December, but the neat thing with some of these comets is to try to observe them as they get brighter and brighter and brighter.
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Shane Ludtke: And you know just record your observations as to.
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Shane Ludtke: You know more detail that you’re able to see you know, like you know how how dense is the nucleus, are you able to see any aspect of a tail.
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Shane Ludtke: Right now, you know, probably My guess would be visually observing a one Leonard.
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Shane Ludtke: it’s probably going to look like an out of focus star like a little bit of a fuzzy point you’re likely not going to see.
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Shane Ludtke: A heck of a lot of detail, but you know again you just never know so it would be an interesting thing to observe through October and Chris I think I think it’s going to be.
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Shane Ludtke: Just taking a look at where it’ll.
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Chris Beckett: Be today he didn’t have bandwidth that’s where you’re going.
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Shane Ludtke: yeah yeah by November becomes potentially binocular target so yeah it’ll be exciting to watch this.
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Chris Beckett: And I think some of the time it’s in the morning sky and some of the time it’s in the evening sky she kind of got to look it up in the Church, we spent a long time.
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Chris Beckett: fooling around with them because right now it’s not circumpolar but it’s up in the northern part of the sky and and then, when we start to get into November comes down into kind of those legs of ursa major.
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Chris Beckett: And I think it’s visible at this, I think, at the beginning of probably when we’ll be able to see it it’s going to be a an evening job, but then it transitions to.
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Chris Beckett: Like a morning sky just because the sky kind of rotates around a bit you might get an evening sky but.
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Chris Beckett: Then, just because of the nature of its position, it does the way it’s tracking and the way the sky rotate sort of like a fatty when to kind of.
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Chris Beckett: See, where it is but, but again yeah we’ll be updating that as we get into November and in October and kind of watching to to see if, to see if maybe it has oberst because it is up in her so major well placed for enter that hemispheric observers right now.
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Shane Ludtke: You know yeah and you know I always try to like.
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Shane Ludtke: You know, contain my excitement for potentially break Comet because more often than not i’m disappointed, you know the Comet breaks up as it, you know gets too close to the sun and.
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Shane Ludtke: And then, it just doesn’t reach the expected magnitude but it’s hard not to be excited about a potential naked eye comets so i’m i’ve been looking forward to this all year and i’ll i’ll try to.
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Shane Ludtke: i’ll try to observe it this month, if I can, and you don’t get a few observations in along the way to December.
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Chris Beckett: it’s your hopes that.
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Shane Ludtke: yup yup.
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Chris Beckett: As Homer Simpson which.
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Chris Beckett: yeah stuff okay well that sounds that sounds good lots of stuff to look at the planets maybe break comment on the horizon and.
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Chris Beckett: got lots of moon and planet pairings and hopefully like that first week or so everybody do to under dark skies looking at an invalid star clusters and galaxies yeah anything else to add to the shame.
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Shane Ludtke: No that’s everything.
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Chris Beckett: With that, we will thank everybody for listening and thanks guys.
End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
=====================
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