October 2019.
Lunar highlightName: Plato
Location: Near the Moon's northern limb, sunk about 2 km deep into the western heights of the lunar Alps.
Type: Crater, with a dark floor.
Age: About 3.6 billion years.
Size: 104 km
Best seen: One day after First Quarter and at Last Quarter.
Notes: Five small craters are scattered across Plato's floor; all traces of its original central elevations have been wiped out by later lava flows. Transient lunar phenomena have been reported within Plato.
Deep-sky highlight for October: The Cartwheel Globular (NGC 6752)
Located in the northern part of Pavo the Peacock, this magnificent cluster can be seen with the naked eye as a 5th-magnitude glow. Binoculars show it to be one of the gems of the sky, revealing an impressive blaze of light, with stars spilling out over an area at least four arcminutes in diameter. It has a very broad centre with a much less prominent outer fringe. A bright star (7th-magnitude HD 177999) lies near its edge to the south-west.
Even a small telescope shows individual stars scattered across its disc--the brightest members are about magnitude +10.5 and have a reddish tinge.
A moderate-sized telescope under dark skies shows the cluster at around 20 arcminutes in diameter, as the stars on the horizontal branch begin to fill in the view. HD 177999 is now located well within the halo. A closer look at this star reveals it to be an unequeal double, its 9th-magnitude companion located less than three arcseconds away.
The nucleus is revelaed as a tight, one arcminute, bright knot of irregular shape, likened to a banana by some. Look out for the remarkable crooked lines of stars radiating from the cluster's centre, which inspired Magda Streicher to compare it to a cartwheel. Curiously, the cluster's stars appear to be of two distinct magnitudes, with the fainter stars near the centre, creating the illusion of an object within an object.
South African comet hunter Jack Bennett included it as No. 121 in his catalogue of comet-like objects, a southern-hemisphere version of the Messier catalogue.
The Cartwheel lies some 13 000 light years away and is about 13 billion years old. (Sketch by Magda Streicher as seen through her 16-inch SCT.)
Caption: October 01-31 after sunset
Caption: October 01-06 after sunset
Caption: October 29-31 after sunset
Celestial almanac
d Event
01 First day of school term 4
02 Callisto at maximum separation from Jupiter
Pluto stationary
03 Jupiter near the Moon
Mercury at aphelion
04 World Space Week (04-10)
Venus near Spica
05 First Quarter Moon (18:47)
Moon furthest south (-22.8[degrees])
Moon at descending node (20:49)
Saturn near the Moon (occultation seen from
southern Africa, Easter Island, southern South
America, and South Georgia)
Titan at maximum separation from Saturn
06 Lunar X feature forms (06:17)
Pluto near the Moon (occultation seen
from Australia, Melanesia, south-eastern
Micronesia, and western Polynesia)
Titan at maximum separation from Saturn
09 Moon occults gamma Cap
Callisto at maximum separation from Jupiter
10 Moon at apogee (20:30, 405 901 km)
Callisto at maximum separation from Jupiter
11 Neptune near the Moon
12 Callisto at maximum separation from Jupiter
Titan at maximum separation from Saturn
13 Full Moon (23:08)
14 Titan at maximum separation from Saturn
15 Uranus near the Moon
17 Aldebaran near the Moon
19 Callisto at maximum separation from
Jupiter
20 Moon furthest north (+22.9[degrees])
Moon at ascending node (09:28)
Mercury at greatest eastern
elongation (25[degrees])
Callisto at maximum separation from
Jupiter
21 Last Quarter Moon (14:39)
Pollux near the Moon
Titan at maxiumum separation from
Saturn
22 Titan at maximum separation from
Saturn
23 Regulus near the Moon
Mercury at greatest latitude south
Titan at maximum separation from Saturn
25 Venus at descending node
26 Moon at perigee (12:42, 361 314 km)
Mars near the Moon
27 Callisto at maximum separation from Jupiter
28 New Moon (05:38)
Callisto at maximum separation from Jupiter
Uranus at opposition
29 Venus near the Moon
30 Mercury near Venus
Titan at maximum separation from Saturn
31 Dark Matter Day
Jupiter near the Moon
Mercury stationary
Planet visibility
Mercury and Venus are prominent in the evening
sky this month. Mars can be seen in the morning
sky late in the month. Jupiter and Saturn can be
seen in the evening sky.
Stellar occultations
The Moon occults gamma Cap on the morning of
October 09. Predicted time of disappearance for
selected locations are: Bloemfontein (02:44:57),
Cape Town (02:38:13), Durban (02:43:24) and
Johannesburg (02:48:18).
Occultation of Saturn
The Moon occults Saturn on October 05. The table below
gives the times of first contact (A- D) and last contact (E--H)
of the rings (A, D, E, H) and planetary limb (B, C, F, G), with
the Moon. Also see the diagram on p 19.
Bloem. Cape Town Durban Harare Jo'burg
A 21:42:34 21:35:15 21:46:02 21:48:37 21:44:10
B 21:42:59 21:35:42 21:46:27 21:48:58 21:44:34
C 21:43:42 21:36:30 21:47:16 21:49:30 21:45:13
D 21:44:06 21:36:57 21:47:41 21:49:51 21:45:37
E 22:28:59 22:22:06 22:23:30 ---- 22:33:34
F 22:29:11 22:22:18 22:23:39 ---- 22:33:47
G 22:29:48 22:23:00 22:24:22 ---- 22:34:21
H 22:30:00 22:23:11 22:24:31 ---- 22:34:34
Sun rise and set, position and distance
d Bloem. Cape Town Durban Harare
rise set rise set rise set rise set
01 05:54 18:16 06:24 18:49 05:35 17:57 05:38 17:53
04 05:51 18:17 06:20 18:51 05:31 17:59 05:36 17:54
07 05:47 18:19 06:16 18:53 05:28 18:01 05:34 17:55
10 05:44 18:21 06:12 18:55 05:24 18:02 05:31 17:55
13 05:40 18:23 06:08 18:58 05:21 18:04 05:29 17:56
16 05:37 18:25 06:04 19:00 05:17 18:06 05:27 17:57
19 05:34 18:26 06:00 19:03 05:14 18:08 05:25 17:58
22 05:31 18:28 05:57 19:05 05:11 18:10 05:23 17:58
25 05:28 18:31 05:53 19:08 05:08 18:12 05:21 17:59
28 05:25 18:33 05:50 19:10 05:05 18:15 05:19 18:01
31 05:23 18:35 05:47 19:13 05:03 18:17 05:18 18:02
d Jo'burg Declination Con Distance
at 02:00 (AU)
rise set
01 05:48 18:07 -02[degrees] 52' 53.1" Vir 1.001439
04 05:45 18:09 -04 02 37.5 Vir 1.000562
07 05:41 18:10 -05 11 55.4 Vir 0.999679
10 05:38 18:12 -06 20 37.1 Vir 0.998799
13 05:35 18:13 -07 28 32.8 Vir 0.997930
16 05:32 18:15 -08 35 33.0 Vir 0.997076
19 05:29 18:16 -09 41 27.9 Vir 0.996239
22 05:27 18:18 -10 46 07.7 Vir 0.995418
25 05:24 18:20 -11 49 22.3 Vir 0.994607
28 05:22 18:22 -12 51 00.6 Vir 0.993800
31 05:19 18:24 -13 50 51.4 Vir 0.992996
Con = constellation (see Table 11 on p 89), Distance =
Sun-Earth distance in AU. Also see rise/set times on pp 72-73.
Moon rise and set
d Bloem. Cape Town Durban
rise set rise set rise set
01 07:57 21:22 08:23 22:01 07:37 21:03
02 08:39 22:26 09:03 23:07 08:19 22:07
03 09:24 23:27 09:46 -:- 09:03 23:09
04 10:12 -:- 10:33 00:10 09:51 -:-
05 11:03 00:25 11:23 01:09 10:41 00:07
06 11:55 01:18 12:16 02:02 11:34 01:00
07 12:49 02:06 13:10 02:49 12:28 01:48
08 13:43 02:49 14:06 03:31 13:22 02:31
09 14:36 03:28 15:01 04:08 14:15 03:10
10 15:29 04:04 15:56 04:42 15:09 03:45
11 16:22 04:36 16:50 05:13 16:01 04:18
12 17:14 05:08 17:45 05:41 16:54 04:49
13 18:06 05:38 18:40 06:10 17:47 05:19
14 18:59 06:09 19:35 06:38 18:40 05:49
15 19:54 06:41 20:32 07:08 19:35 06:21
16 20:50 07:15 21:30 07:40 20:32 06:55
17 21:48 07:53 22:30 08:16 21:29 07:32
18 22:46 08:35 23:29 08:57 22:28 08:14
19 23:44 09:23 -:- 09:43 23:26 09:01
20 -:- 10:16 00:28 10:36 -:- 09:55
21 00:39 11:15 01:23 11:35 00:21 10:53
22 01:32 12:18 02:15 12:39 01:14 11:56
23 02:21 13:23 03:02 13:47 02:02 13:02
24 03:06 14:30 03:44 14:56 02:47 14:09
25 03:47 15:36 04:23 16:06 03:28 15:16
26 04:27 16:43 05:00 17:16 04:08 16:23
27 05:06 17:50 05:37 18:25 04:46 17:31
28 05:46 18:57 06:14 19:35 05:26 18:38
29 06:27 20:03 06:54 20:47 06:07 19:44
30 07:13 21:11 07:36 21:53 06:52 20:52
31 08:01 22:12 08:22 22:56 07:40 21:54
d Harare Jo'burg
rise set rise set
01 07:49 20:48 07:53 21:10
02 08:36 21:47 08:36 22:13
03 09:25 22:46 09:22 23:13
04 10:15 23:42 10:11 -:-
05 11:07 -:- 11:02 00:11
06 11:59 00:35 11:54 01:04
07 12:51 01:24 12:47 01:52
08 13:42 02:10 13:40 02:36
09 14:32 02:52 14:33 03:16
10 15:21 03:31 15:25 03:52
11 16:09 04:08 16:16 04:26
12 16:56 04:44 17:07 04:59
13 17:44 05:19 17:58 05:31
14 18:33 05:54 18:50 06:03
15 19:23 06:31 19:43 06:36
16 20:14 07:09 20:38 07:12
17 21:08 07:51 21:34 07:50
18 22:03 08:37 22:32 08:34
19 23:00 09:27 23:29 09:22
20 23:56 10:21 -:- 10:15
21 -:- 11:18 00:25 11:14
22 00:50 12:19 01:18 12:16
23 01:42 13:20 02:08 13:20
24 02:32 14:22 02:54 14:25
25 03:19 15:23 03:37 15:31
26 04:04 16:24 04:19 16:36
27 04:49 17:25 04:59 17:41
28 05:35 18:26 05:41 18:46
29 06:21 19:27 06:24 19:51
30 07:12 20:30 07:11 20:57
31 08:03 21:29 07:59 21:58
For Port Elizabeth subtract 28m from Cape Town; for
Bulawayo add 9m to Harare.
Jupiter's Galilean moons
d Time Event
01 18:43.7 Io's shadow transit ends
04 19:05.0 Ganymede transit ends
21:18.2 Ganymede's shadow transit starts
23:57.4 Ganymede's shadow transit ends
06 18:52.3 Europa transit starts
21:14.8 Europa's shadow transit starts
21:24.2 Europa transit ends
22:48.4 lo transit starts
23:49.1 Europa's shadow transit ends
23:57.6 Io's shadow transit starts
07 19:58.5 Io is occulted
23:23.7 Io reappears from eclipse
08 18:26.3 Io's shadow transit starts
18:40.2 Europa reappears from eclipse
19:30.1 Io transit ends
20:38.6 Io's shadow transit ends
11 20:44.1 Ganymede transit starts
23:20.6 Ganymede transit ends
13 21:37.5 Europa transit starts
14 21:57.7 Io is occulted
15 19:16.5 Io transit starts
20:21.0 Io's shadow transit starts
21:15.4 Europa reappears from eclipse
15 21:28.8 Io transit ends
22:33.5 Io's shadow transit ends
16 19:47.9 Io reappears from eclipse
22 19:15.5 Europa is occulted
19:26.0 Ganymede is eclipsed
21:15.6 Io transit starts
22:10.1 Ganymede reappears from eclipse
22:15.7 Io's shadow transit starts
23 18:27.5 Io is occulted
20:26.1 Callisto reappears from eclipse
21:43.3 Io reappears from eclipse
24 18:25.3 Europa's shadow transit ends
18:57.1 Io's shadow transit ends
29 19:38.7 Ganymede is occulted
22:00.3 Europa is occulted
22:20.6 Ganymede reappears (occulted)
30 20:28.1 Io is occulted
31 18:27.3 Europa's shadow transit starts
18:38.9 Io's shadow transit starts
19:11.0 Europa transit ends
19:58.0 Io transit ends
20:51.9 Io's shadow transit ends
21:03.6 Europa's shadow transit ends
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| Title Annotation: | Plato and Cartwheel Globular |
|---|---|
| Publication: | Sky Guide Africa South |
| Date: | Jan 1, 2019 |
| Words: | 2333 |
| Previous Article: | September 2019. |
| Next Article: | November 2019. |
| Topics: | |