2018 Week 42: (October 14-October 20)

This week we have some above seasonal temperatures and clear skies.  It is the perfect opportunity to get out and enjoy the Fall constellations.  The chart below highlights what is happening in the sky this week.

Date	Event
October 14	Saturn 1.8°S of Moon
October 16	First Quarter
October 18	Mars 1.9°S of Moon

Saturn and Mars will both be in conjunction with the Moon and will be within the same view of wide field telescopes.  If you have a pair of binoculars it may be worthwhile to witness these events.

Taurus is making its way into our sky later in the evening.  Accompanying the great bull is the Pleiades Star Cluster which makes a great sight even with the naked eye.  Following Taurus is Orion.  This tends to be everyone's favourite constellation with the bright belt stars signifying the coming of Winter.  I always look forward to reacquainting myself with the Orion Nebula that is beautiful through any optical instrument.

M45 - Pleiades Sta Cluster

For those looking for Lacaille constellations, Sculptor and Fornax will be in the low southern horizon during the autumnal evenings.

There are several rocket launches occurring this week from China, Florida and French Guiana.  I am excited for the Ariane 5 rocket carrying the BepiColombo mission to Mercury.  It will survey the geology, evolution and magnetic field.  This will be the third mission to our innermost planet. 

BepiColombo

Also on the schedule for this week will be an Atlas 5 launching the 'Advanced Extremely High Frequency' satellite.  It will be used for highly secured communication for the US military.  China will be launching two satellites for its navigation network on the 14th.  All launches can be watched live at the following webpage.

https://spaceflightnow.com/

The chart below provides the date and times for all these events.

Date	Event
October 14	Long March 3B - Beidou (22:15)
October 16	Atlas 5 - AEHF (22:15)
October 19	Ariane 5 - BepiColombo (19:45)

There is one public astronomy event in Calgary this week.  A public lecture will be held at the Kerby Centre Thursday evening at 7:30pm.  I will be giving a talk on Lacaille and his great work in the southern hemisphere.  My blog highlighted his work late last year.  A link is provided below.

https://simonjastronomy.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-lacaille-constellations.html


Join us at the Kerby Centre for a vicarious journey through the southern hemisphere!  See below for more details!

https://www.facebook.com/events/149576792653159/

Date	Event
October 18	RASC General Meeting (19:30 - Kerby Centre)

Stay tuned next week for another October Meteor Shower!