This Months Sky | Somerset Levels Stargazers

News on what is visable in this months sky as posted by Adrian Zielonka's in his monthly sky notes.

Thank you Adrian and thank you CADAS.

Here is the astronomy new for October 2020

Astronomy
News

Night
Sky 2020 - October

From
the 30^th
September - 4^th
October Venus passes close to the star Regulus (1.3 mag) in Leo. On
the 2^nd
they are just ½ a degree apart.

At the beginning of the month Saturn and Jupiter are 7¼
degrees apart and by the 31^st their 2 degrees closer.

Mercury reaches maximum eastern elongation from the Sun
on the 1^st.

The stars
Fomalhaut (1.1 mag) and Epsilon Piscis Austrini (4.1 mag) in Piscis
Austrinus are low in the south at 11:00pm on the 1^st. They
point the way to the asteroid Ceres (8 mag). From EPA to Ceres is
just 3¼ degrees and slowly moving upper right during this month. At
this date and time Ceres is 182 degrees azimuth and 13½ degrees
above the horizon. (For details on this asteroid or others please see
the 'Asteroid' section in the website above).

At
midnight on the 2^nd
Mars is 3 degrees above left of the moon. The star Nu Piscium (4.4
mag) in Pisces is just 1½ degrees below left of Mars. An Occultation
of Mars by the moon occurs in the early hours of the 3^rd.
This will be visible from the southern section South America and
southern Africa.

On
the 3^rd
at 10:00pm Mars will be 9 degrees to the upper right of the moon.
Uranus is 7½ degrees to the left of the moon and 1¾ degrees above.
The moon is at Apogee (406,321km) at 6:23pm.

At
10:00pm on the 4^th
Uranus is 6¼ degrees to the upper right of the moon.

On
the 5^th
at 10:00pm the Pleiades star cluster is 8 degrees to the upper left
of the moon.

At
10:00pm on the 6^th
the star Ain (3.5 mag) in Taurus is just ¾ of a degree to the right
of the moon.

On
the 7^th
at midnight the star Zeta Tauri (2.9 mag) in Taurus is 3¼ degrees to
the lower left of the moon.

At
midnight on the 8^th
the star Mu Geminorum (2.8 mag) in Gemini will be 1½ degrees below
the moon.

The Draconids meteor shower reach their peak on the
8^th/9^th, though they can be seen from the 5^th.

On
the 9^th
at midnight the star Wasat (3.5 mag) in Gemini is 2½ degrees below
the moon.

The stars Sabik
(2.4 mag) and 85340 “Hipparcos Catalogue ID”(4 mag) in Ophiuchus
point the way to Comet 88P Howell (9.1mag – 22^nd Sept)
on the 10^th. At 9:00pm Comet 88P Howell is 2 degrees from
85340. (For details on this comet or others please see the 'Comet'
section in the website above).

The Taurids meteor shower reach their peak on the
10^th/11^th November, though they can be seen
from the 19^th October - 9^th December.

At
5:00am on the 11^th
the Beehive Star Cluster in Cancer is 5 degrees below the moon and 2
degrees to the right.

On
the 13^th
at 5:00am the star Eta Leonis (3.4 mag) in Leo is 2½ degrees above
the crescent moon. An occultation of Eta Leonis by the moon occurs
over central east Africa, equatorial region of Asia and Australia.

There is a planned launch on the 14^th* of
Expedtion 64 to the International Space Station (ISS). NASA astronaut
Kate Rubins and cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey
Kud-Sverchkov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, launch
aboard a Soyuz spacecraft to the ISS. (See ISS News below for
further information).

Mars is at opposition on the 14^th and is at
its best to view this month.

At
5:00am on the 14^th
Venus is 4 degrees to the right of the thin crescent moon. The star
Chertan (3.3 mag) in Leo is 5¼ degrees to the upper left of the
moon.

The Bepi Colombo mission to Mercury has its first flyby
of Venus on the 15^th.

On
the 16^th
at 7:00am a very thin crescent moon may be seen 1½ degrees above the
eastern horizon (96 degrees azimuth) with Porrima (2.7 mag) in Virgo,
6 degrees above right of the moon.

The
moon is at Perigee (356,912km) on the 17^th
at 12:47am. At 6:40pm a very thin crescent moon will be 1½ degrees
above the horizon in the WSW (249 degrees azimuth).

Comet C/2020 F3
Neowise (10.6 mag – Sept 22^nd) is 1½ degrees from the
moon in the constellation of Libra on the 18^th at 7:00pm.

An
occultation of the star Acrab occurs on the 19^th.
It will be visible from most of Europe (unfortunately not the UK) and
the equatorial region of Asia.

The asteroid
Vesta (8.4 mag) lies midway between the stars Regulus (1.3 mag) and
Eta Leonis (3.4 mag) on the 20^that 4:00am. On November
2^nd Vesta will be 5 degrees from Regulus towards the star
Chertan (3.3 mag).

There is a
planned launch on the 20^th* to the asteroid Bennu. The
OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will travel all the way to Bennu's surface
during this sample collection attempt. The spacecraft will make
contact with the asteroid's surface for several seconds, then collect
a sample, which it will return to Earth in 2023.

At
7:00pm on the 20^th
the star Theta Ophiuchus (3.2 mag) in Ophiuchus is 1¼ degrees to the
lower right of the crescent moon.

Comet C/2020 M3
Atlas (9.4 mag – Sept 22^nd) is at perihelion (1.272AU)
on the 25^th. This month it travels through the
constellations of Eridanus and Lepus. On the 21^st at
1:00am its 1 degree from the star Epsilon Leporis low in the south
east. On the 28^th at midnight its ½ a degree from the
star Mu Leporis (3.2 mag) in the south east.

On
the 21^st
at 7:00pm the star Kaus Borealis (2.8 mag) in Sagittarius will be
very close to the crescent moon. An occultation of Kaus Borealis by
the moon occurs today. This will be visible from the UK. It
disappears at 7:19:24pm and reappears at 8:22:46pm. These times are
set from Yeovilton.

The Orionids meteor shower reach their peak on the
21^st/22^nd, though they can be seen from the 1^st
October - 6^th November.

There is a
planned landing on the 22^nd of the Expedition 63 crew, in
Kazakhstan. NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian space agency
Roscosmos cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner return to
Earth aboard their Soyuz spacecraft from the ISS.

At
8:00pm on the 22^nd
Jupiter is 3 degrees above right of the crescent moon with Saturn 6
degrees above left of Jupiter.

There is a
planned launch (No earlier than) 23^rd* of SpaceX Crew-1 to
the ISS. Crew Dragon commander Michael Hopkins, pilot Victor
Glover, mission specialist Shannon Walker of NASA and
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) mission specialist Soichi
Noguchi will launch on the Crew-1 mission from Kennedy Space
Centre in Florida. (See ISS News below for further information).

Comet C/2020 P1
Neowise (10.7 mag) is at perihelion on the 20^th when its
just 0.343AU from the Sun. It's closest to the Earth (0.657AU) on
12^th in the constellation of Corvus. On the 23^rd
at 6:45am its 4½ degrees to the lower left of the star Delta
Virginis (3.3 mag) in Virgo and low in the east. During the latter
part of the month its moving towards Arcturus but stays in Virgo this
period.

On the 23^rd at 7:00pm Saturn will be 8
degrees to the upper right of the moon with Jupiter 6 degrees to the
right of Saturn.

At 7:00pm on the 24^th the star Zeta
Capricorni (3.7 mag) in Capricornus is just 2¼ degrees to the lower
left of the moon.

Mercury is at inferior conjunction on the 25^th.

On the 26^th at 8:00pm the star Tau Aquarii
(4th mag) in Aquarius is 2½ degrees to the right of the moon.
Neptune is 8½ degrees to the upper left of the moon.

At 8:00pm on the 27^th Neptune is 6 degrees to
the right of the moon and 4 degrees above.

On the 28^th at 8:00pm Mars is 11½ degrees to
the left of the moon and 3½ degrees above.

At 7:30pm on the 29^th Mars is 3¾ degrees
above the moon.

Venus is at perihelion on the 30^th.

The moon is at Apogee (406,394km) on the 30^th
at 6:46pm.

At 7:30pm on the 30^th Uranus is 10 degrees to
the left of the moon and 1 degree above.

Comet
88P Howell will be less than ¼ of a degree from the star Phi
Sagittarii (3.1 mag) in Sagittarius on the 30^th
at 9:00pm.

Uranus is at opposition on the 31^st and is at
its best to view over October and November.

Comet C/2020 K8
Catalina-Atlas (10.3 mag – Aug 25^th) was at perihelion
on the Sept 14^th. Its mainly in the area near the Sun this
month. On the 31^st at 6:00am its between Mercury and Venus
in the constellation of Virgo and 5½ degrees from Spica which is
just 1 degree above the horizon and in the ESE.

On the 31^st at 6:15am Mercury is 2¼ degrees
above the ESE horizon at 108 degrees azimuth with the star Spica (1st
mag) in Virgo 4½ degrees to the upper right of it.

* = Dates and times
are subject to change.

News: Solar
Orbiter: The science payload is
composed of 10 instruments.

7/10) SPICE -
Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Enviroment (France): Performs extreme
ultraviolet imaging spectroscopy to remotely characterize plasma
properties of the Sun's ondisk corona. This will enable matching in
situ composition signatures of solar wind streams to their source
regions on the Sun's surface.

ISS News:

Kathleen Hallisey
Kate Rubins (b.1978) became the 60^th woman to fly into
space when she launched on a Soyuz spacecraft to the ISS on July 7^th
2016. This will be her second spaceflight.

Sergey
Ryzhikov (b.1974) is a lieutenant colonel of the Russian Air
Force and was selected as a cosmonaut in 2006. His first spaceflight
(Soyuz MS-02) to the ISS was on the 19^th October 2016.

Sergey
Kud-Sverchkov (b.1983) became a Russian cosmonaut in April 2010.
He his married and the father of one daughter. In 2014, he
participated in the CAVES mission of the European Space Agency
alongside Scott Tingle, Alexander Mirsurkin, Luca Parmitana and
Matthias Maurer.

Michael
Hopkins (b.1968) was selected in June 2009 as a member of the
NASA Astronaut Group 20. He made his first spaceflight as a Flight
Engineer in September 2013.

Victor Glover
(b.1976) is married and has four children. He is the first
African-American to stay on a long duration mission to the ISS.

Shannon Walker
(b.1965) is an American physicist and was selected as an astronaut in
2004. Her first mission to the ISS was in June 2010. At graduate
school, her area of study was the solar wind interaction with the
Venusian atmosphere.

Soichi Noguchi
(b.1965) first spaceflight was as a Mission Specialist aboard STS-114
on 26^th July 2005, for NASA's first “return to flight”
Space Shuttle mission after the Columbia disaster.

News: NASA is
definitely targeting the moon's south pole for a crewed landing in
2024 – but that timeline will be difficult to achieve if Congress
doesn't open its purse strings, and fast, agency chief Jim
Bridenstine said. The astronauts who land there will do so aboard a
private lander – one built by SpaceX, Dynetics or a team headed by
Jeff Bezo's Blue Origin.

Facts: On
September 22^nd
2006, Japan launched a sun-observing satellite called Hinode, or
Solar -B. It was named after the Japanese word for “sunrise”.