The Night Comes Down

Not much to report this week except that everything has shunted forward an hour. And on that subject something occurred to me this week, whilst bickering with George in the Atlantic. George is pretty evangelical about British Summer Time, he loathes it with an unnatural passion, whereas I’m all for 2 hours in the summer and one in the winter. And by the way Giles, if you’re listening George still has your hammer. But I digress, this is what occurred to me, the hour goes back 5-6 weeks after the autumn equinox, which you may have noticed, but goes forward on the last Sunday in March, a week or so after the vernal equinox. Surely to maintain equilibrium it should go forward 5-6 weeks before March 21st, the first Sunday in February, which would be a real shot in the arm in that most dismal of months. And if you’re a Scottish farmer and don’t like the idea, well do something else. Well that’s what I think, and if you disagree then your wrong.

Anyway the upshot is everything is now up a little earlier. Orion is now clearly visible in the just south of east before 11:30, followed soon after by Mars further to the north. And speaking of Orion did anybody see any of the Orionids, which is by the way a rhetorical question, in that I’m not expecting a reply. I looked on one of the few clear nights we had last week, but sadly not a sausage.

The outlook for this week is about as exciting as Island Parish, the planets are much the same as last week, as you’ve no doubt come to expect.

Mercury has become lost in the glow of sunrise.

Venus is also getting lower in the east at dawn, but much more slowly; it's still moderately well up. It’s so bright that it's easy to spot if you look low in the east 60 to 30 minutes before sunrise time, it rises around 6.

Mars rises around midnight and is very high in the south before dawn. It's below Gemini's head stars, Pollux and Castor. If you’re a fanatic then why not use binoculars to watch Mars closing in on the Beehive Star Cluster; it will cross the cluster from the mornings of October 31st to November 2nd.

Jupiter shines brightly in the south after dark and lower in the southwest later in the night. It sets around 1 a.m. And I have a 6 inch reflector available now if anyone would like to come up and take a look. Give me a ring or plague Keri with emails if you’re interested.
Saturn, not overly bright is lying in the head of Virgo and is getting higher the east-southeast during early dawn. Look for it to the upper right of low Venus.
As usual there’s a little more information on the blog, and the local star map if you need a little help.
And that was your night’s sky for the week ending on the 52nd anniversary of the launch of Sputnik 2. On board is the first animal to enter orbit, a dog named Laika, who achieved fame at no small personnel cost.