Podcaster: Shane and Chris
Title: The Observer’s Calendar for October 2024
Organization: Actual Astronomy
Link : https://actualastronomy.podbean.com/ ; https://www.deepskyeye.com/
Description: The Actual Astronomy Podcast presents The Observer’s Calendar for October 2024. With Saturn just past opposition and nearly edge-on rings, the appearance of Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is eagerly anticipated and we discuss how and where to see it. We also talk about pairings of the Moon and Venus, Jupiter and other planets.
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:
The Observer’s Calendar for October 2024 and Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas on Episode 450 of the Actual Astronomy podcast. I’m Chris and joining me is Shane. We are amateur astronomers who love looking up at the night sky and this podcast is for everyone who enjoys going out under the stars.
- What are you plans for Autumn Observing?
- Oct 1 – Zodiacal light is visible again this month, Actually, Alsiter and I observed it back on Sept. 8th, so it does become visible even in late summer
- Look towards East or just north of east and it’s a pyramid shaped pillar of light pointing somewhat towards M45, the Pleiades star cluster
- Oct 2 – New Moon!
- Also an annular solar eclipse on this day…but only for extreme southern tip of South America and centre of Pacific…let us know if you see this
- Oct 5 – Venus as close as 3-degrees to the Moon in Evening Sky
- Oct 10 – First Quarter Moon
- Oct 14th – Saturn Pairs as close as 0.1 – degrees of Moon and Occultation for parts of Africa…so if anyone is there…hint hint…we have a friend visiting Africa for astronomy who will join us in coming weeks.
- Oct 15th Neptune just over ½ degree from the Moon and occultation for other regions including Africa
- Oct 17 – Full Moon – Largest in 2024 – I don’t know if it’s super or not…large tides this week too
- Oct 19 – Moon Near Pleiades this evening
- Oct 20/21 – Orionid meteors peak but Moon interferes but it pairs with Jupiter for a nice sight, as close as 0.6-degrees
- Oct 24th – Last Quarter Moon
Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas –
- Did you go look?
- Best night here will be Oct 15th when it passes Messier 5, a Globular Star Cluster in Serpens. Comet is forecast to be at Mag. 3 that night!
- Wade sent us comet photos from Australia!
- Good morning Chris and Shane!
- Saw the comet naked eye this morning!
- I am on a family holiday at Tin Can Bay at the moment. The town centre is only about a bortle 3 and I have found a dark secluded spot to the north east of town to observe from. Plus it’s right on the water so there is no light domes to the east.
- My rough guess is that the tail extended about 5°. Coma and tail were both really bright. It was easily brighter than any nebula or galaxy to the naked eye. The Milky Way was right overhead and once the sun started to rise it disappeared before the comet, even though the comet was obviously way closer to the sun.
- It looked bigger and brighter in the 80mm f5 but didn’t really show any extra detail. A great view! We are going to be really busy later this year if this comet doesn’t break up.
- Clear skies
- Wade
Concluding Listener Message: Please subscribe and share the show with other stargazers you know and send us show ideas, observations and questions to actualastronomy@gmail.com
365 Days of Astronomy
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