Pocket Sky-Atlas Challenges for October

The October Sky

The chill is in the air and the nights are getting longer, leaves are falling exposing new opportunities in viewing fields not available during summer. For early risers, Orion returns and M42 beckons.

Don’t be spooked away from doing astronomy outreach: it is not as scary as it seems.

The last night of the month is a perfect night to gain some hands on experience by doing neighbourhood astronomy outreach. The moon and Jupiter are good early targets. A telescope set up near the frond door of your home during Halloween is an excellent idea for neighbourhood outreach.Other suitable targets include M31 (page 3), M45 (page 15 also see close up chart “A” at the back of the atlas.) and the Double Cluster (page 13).

I’ve indexed the object to its star chart page.

Naked Eye

 

M45 Page13, also see close up chart “A” at the back of the atlas.
Algol, Page 2. Is it as bright as last month?
Alderamin and Errai, page71.
Alpheratz, Matar and Caph page72.

Larger Scopes

 

IC 405, Page 12.
NGC 7457, Page 74.
NGC 7626 and 7619, Page 74.
V509, Page 72.

 

Small Scopes and Binoculars

 

Kemble’s Cascade, Pages 11 and 13. There are 15 to 25 stars visible here, can you see colour in any of them?
M73 and M2, Page 77.
M15, Page 75.
NGC 7448, Page 74.

 

Bonus Objects

 

NGC 7009, M30 Page 77.
M34, Page 12.
PK 72-17.1 ( Abell 74), Page 75.
NGC 6940, Page 73.

 

Happy Hunting!

Published with permission of John Kulczycki, 2012 all rights reserved.

About the Author

I’ve been a freelance writer for more than 20 years, but I’ve been an amateur astronomer for longer than that. Astronomy is the one science that everyone can try and make significant contributions. All you need to do is take the first step and go outside to enjoy then night sky.

I’ll see you there!