- Thursday, 21 November 2024
Jupiter And Saturn Enchant Sky-gazers
Dr. Rishi Shah
The night skies of this month would allure avid sky-gazers with the charisma of giant gaseous planets Jupiter and Saturn along with enigmatic enchantments of many other planets, stars and celestial entities.
The elusive planet Mercury would reach its biggest western elongation from the Sun on 08 October. It would be at its highest point above the eastern horizon in the morning sky before sunrise. It would be perceivable shortly during mid-month before day-break. Planet Venus would stay out of view, as it would be lost in solar glare due to its proximity to the Sun.
Planets Mercury and Venus would be scurrying through the vast star field of constellation Virgo (maiden). The red planet Mars could be marveled after sundown in eastern sky.
It would climb in southern sky late at night. It would be evanescing at dawn-twilight from western sky before sunup. It would be mingling with scintillating stars of the zodiacal constellation Taurus (bull).
The mighty planet Jupiter can be relished in eastern sky after sunset. It would be hovering high in southern sky by mid-night and then fade away in western sky very late at night. It could be discerned below the charming circlet asterism of sprawling constellation Pisces (fishes).
Blue hued far-flung planet Neptune could be cherished similarly as Jupiter. It could be spotted to the right of Jupiter as gently glistening dot of light dwelling in the eastern region of captivating constellation Aquarius (water bearer).
The ringed planet Saturn could be applauded awesomely in south-eastern sky after dusk. It would be swinging aloft at mid-night in southern sky and sink slowly towards south-western horizon late at night. It could be located in the north-eastern edge of triangle-shaped constellation Capricornus (sea goat).
The distant planet Uranus could be glimpsed late at night in eastern sky. It would climb in southern sky as shimmering speck in the sparse sector of the southern sky. It would be out of sight before day-begin.
The full moon would befall on 09 October. This full moon would be popularly known as Kojagrath or hunter’s full moon because at this time of year the leaves would be falling and the game would be fat and ready for hunting.
Traditionally revered festivals of Bijaya Dashami, Bhai Tika and Chaat Parva would be celebrated respectfully on 05, 27 and 30 October in 2022. The new moon would betide on 25 October. A partial solar eclipse would fascinate onlookers as the moon would cover petit section of the Sun on this day coinciding with Gai Tihar festivity.
It could be well witnessed from Africa, Asia, Europe, Greenland, Guernsey, Russia and Kazakhstan. From Kathmandu up-to 22 percent of the Sun would be seen eclipsed from 04:52 PM until 05:25 PM eventually with setting Sun.
The Sun at the moment of greatest eclipse would be sailing through cute constellation Virgo and be rising at 06:07 AM. One should never point binoculars or telescopes at objects staying close to the Sun. Doing so may result in immediate and permanent blindness. This partial solar eclipse could be safely observed with special solar filters or by looking at solar reflection.
The Draconid meteor shower would be displaying meager ten meteors per hour during its maximum this year on the night of the 07 October. Although the first quarter moon would block out all but the brightest meteors this year, ardent meteor shower fan could still catch some fulgent ones from dark neighborhoods.
The Draconids could be deemed as an unusual shower, because it could be best watched during evening instead of morning hours like most other conventional showers. Draconids would run annually from 06 to 10 October.
They allegedly originate from dust grains remnants of comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner with orbital period of circa 6.6 years. French astronomer Michel Giacobini had identified this comet in 1900 from Nice Observatory in France. In 1913, German astronomer Ernst Zinner had exposed this comet while scrutinizing the variable stars.
The dregs would collide with the earth’s upper atmosphere to burn up as Draconid meteors. They would be exuding from its radiant soaring upwards in the north-western sky at nightfall in early October and nesting cozily in the famed meandering circumpolar constellation Draco (dragon). They seemingly spring from vicinity of strangely shining stars Eltanin and Rastaban, which have been acclaimed as the dreadful dragon’s eyes.
They would be presumably 154 and 380 light-years away respectively.
The Orionid meteor shower would be excellently exhibiting up to twenty meteors per hour at its peak, which would fall this year from the night of 21 October till the morning of 22 October. The thin waning crescent moon would leave tenebrous skies and not interfere with the good show of streaking shooting stars.
Orionids would emerge from the radiant lying near the resplendent supergiant star Betelgeuse (Ardra) in constellation Orion (hunter), which if it were to occupy the center of our Solar System, its surface would extend beyond the asteroid belt and would engulf the paths of Mercury, Venus, earth and Mars.
It could be haply 548 light-years away. This confounding constellation Orion (Kalpurush or Mrigashira) would be ascending in the eastern sky during wee hours after midnight during October. Orionids would be zipping through the sky and plummet into the earth’s atmosphere at whopping sixty-six kilometers per second.
The shower could be traced annually from 02 October to 07 November. Orionids has been ostensibly produced by dusty debris left behind by the iconic comet 1P/Halley, which has been tracked since ancient times. It has been revolving around the Sun every 76 years.
It was the first comet to have returned as predicted by English astronomer Edmond Halley. This comet was effulgent enough to be easily appreciated since 240 AD. It had been featured on the baffling Bayeux tapestry, which would chronicle the Battle of Hastings in 1066. It had appeared last in 1986 and would reveal itself in 2061.
NASA has crashed a vending machine sized-probe into the merely 160 meter wide asteroid nicknamed Dimorphos roughly comparable to an Egyptian pyramid with the aim of demonstrating the planetary protection test mission dubbed Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) to deflect incoming dangerous bodies by striking them.
DART craft had smacked Dimorphos uniquely for challenging humanity's ability to prevent cosmic calamity-triggering object from devastating life on earth. Dimorphos had been chasing around its binary asteroid Didymos (Greek word for twin) in around 11 hours and 55 minutes. After the collision-process, its orbital period has probably been shortened by sheer ten minutes.
It may take several weeks for the experts to confirm the success of the experimentation after thorough evaluation. DART’s target asteroid was not a threat to earth, but selected for DART venture for deploying the first ever full-scale manifestation of asteroid deflection technology proposed as viable way to guard our planet if an asteroid on an impact course with earth were to be detected and diverted away from our planet on time in future.
Basically twenty-seven thousand asteroids have been perhaps zooming around near earth. Asteroids, which are larger than140 meters and creep nearer to earth than 7.5 million kilometers would be classified as potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs). DART craft had sneaked towards Dimorphos in ten months after its launch on SpaceX’s Falcon-9 rocket in last November in 2021. The asteroids were around eleven million kilometers from earth when the hit had occurred.
This escapade could bring those bold imaginative actions attempted in Hollywood science fiction films as Armageddon and Don't Look Up back into reality. As a chilling reminder we are deeply aware of the geological records that conceivably indicate the ten kilometer wide Chicxulub asteroid had struck earth fairly sixty-six million years ago.
This incident had plunged the world into long winter that had most likely led to catastrophic mass extinction of dinosaurs and debatably seventy-five percent of all species of plant and animals on earth. An asteroid like Dimorphos, by contrast, could cause unprecedented impact by destroying huge city with more massive force than by any nuclear bomb in human history.
(Dr. Shah is an academician at NAST)
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