Poster’s Note: The text for this month’s installment from Dee Sharples, “The Sky In October 2024,” is provided below. Those wishing to listen to the article can click on the audio link below.
A NASA spacecraft, the Europa Clipper, will launch from the Kennedy Space Center this month with the launch period beginning on October 10. Data from earlier missions strongly suggests that an enormous salty ocean lies below the icy surface of Europa, one of the four Galilean moons orbiting the planet Jupiter. Scientific evidence suggests that this water, along with energy sources and the proper chemistry to create organic compounds, may exist on Europa which could support life below its frozen crust.
The spacecraft is scheduled to orbit Jupiter 49 times, bringing it close to Europa for study with nine scientific instruments and a gravity experiment. Although it will need to dip into areas of intense radiation, its time will be limited and the instruments will be shielded from damage.
The Europa Clipper will use gravity assists from Mars and Earth to add speed to the spacecraft to make the 1.8-billion-mile journey which will take more than 5½ years reaching Jupiter in the year 2030.
The surface of Europa is constantly changing.
In this newly reprocessed image taken by the Galileo spacecraft on September 26, 1998, details are visible in the variety of features on the moon’s icy surface. This image of an area called ‘chaos terrain’ shows blocks that have moved, small rounded domes, and ridges possibly related to how the crust fractures from the force of Jupiter’s gravity. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute
The planet Venus, brilliant at magnitude -3.9 can be easily spotted low in the western sky, setting 80 minutes after the Sun in early October. On Saturday, October 5th, 40 minutes after sunset, a slim crescent Moon lies just below and to the left of Venus. You’ll need an observing site free of trees, hills, and obstacles as the planet and the Moon will be less than 10º above the horizon.
Mars at magnitude 0.5 will rise in the east at midnight at the beginning of the month. By the end of October, it will have brightened to magnitude 0.1 and be 70º high in the southeast in the morning sky.
The anticipated Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS will be northwest of Venus on Sunday, October 13th and Monday, the 14th. Use binoculars to look for it. Comets are unpredictable in their brightness so astronomers are hoping it will become visible to the naked eye.
The sky will boast two of the giant planets this month. Search for Saturn in the southeast looking like a fairly bright star at magnitude 0.7 as darkness falls. By midnight, it will be high in the south. The gas giant Jupiter shining brightly at magnitude -2.6 will be in the east at midnight, traveling across the night sky, and arriving in the southwest in the early morning.
The peak of the Orionid meteor shower will be in the very early morning hours of Monday, October 21. One hour before sunrise, look high in the southwest where you’ll see a full Moon and Jupiter. This is the radiant, the area where the meteors will appear to originate, and although the bright Moon will cut down on how many meteors you’ll be able to see, the brighter ones will still be visible. Remember, meteors may be seen in all areas of the sky but if you can trace its path back to the radiant, you have spotted an Orionid.
