Next month brings us two eclipses: a partial solar eclipse on Oct. 23, and a total lunar eclipse on Oct. 8.
In the early morning hours of Oct. 8, the moon will begin to enter the lighter penumbra of Earth’s shadow at 4:17 a.m., but not until the moon enters the darker umbral shadow an hour later, at 5:17 a.m., will the eclipse become obvious.
From 6:29 a.m. through 7:22 a.m. the moon will be fully eclipsed. At 7:39 a.m. the moon drops below the horizon as it begins to exit the umbra in the brightening dawn.
Send me your photos and I’ll use them in the Planetarium.
The solar eclipse will be difficult to observe for two reasons. The eclipse begins at 5:45 p.m. when the sun is close to setting, so you will need an unobscured view of the horizon. Fifty minutes later at 6:35 p.m., the sun disappears below the horizon, only about 25 percent masked by the moon.
You must have the appropriate filter to view the event with the unaided eye, and above all, a telescope. Use a recognized solar filter. Do not use welder’s glasses, smoked glass, or especially those dangerously labeled “solar filters” used at the eyepiece of a telescope. These filters can easily crack or shatter from the sun’s heat, disintegrating your retina with literally blinding energy. If you have one, throw it away now. I find it hard to believe this item was ever even produced.
I have found that a digital camera may adequately adjust its exposure to capture the very end of the event, so send me those photos too. I’ll credit you in the Planetarium if I use them.
Jupiter rises on Wednesday at 3:02 a.m. and is the month’s “morning star.” Venus and Mercury are lost in the sun’s glare all month, but Mars can be easily found moving through Ophiuchus and into Sagittarius around 8:30 p.m. right in the southwest. At the same time, Saturn can be seen about 25 degrees west of Mars, but the ringed planet vanishes below the horizon at that time about mid-month.
Two meteor showers — the Draconids on Oct. 8 and the Orionids on Oct. 20-21 — occur this month. Your best bet for observing will be the Orionids, as the moon will not obstruct viewing that night, as it will the Draconids. You may see up to 20 Orionids an hour, bits of Halley’s Comet left behind.
Q&A
Q: How many stars are there? — R.K., Akron
A: You can see about 6,000-8,000 stars from Earth on a dark, clear night, only half of those at a time since you can stand in just one hemisphere. With binoculars you can see about 200,000, and an amateur telescope will reveal at least 15 million.
The Milky Way galaxy is home to about 300 billion stars and there may be 100 to 200 billion galaxies. So that gives us about very roughly 60 billion trillion stars — just in the observable universe.
Program
The Hoover-Price Planetarium is presenting The Universe at Large, our ongoing program for 2014. Along with the current sky, we will be presenting and updating material to reflect new discoveries, astronomical events and NASA’s ventures. This format provides us with more flexibility to respond to questions.
The program will be shown at 1 p.m. Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. The planetarium is included with admission to the McKinley Presidential Library and Museum.
David L. Richards is director of the Hoover-Price Planetarium at the McKinley Presidential Library and Museum, 800 McKinley Monument Drive NW, Canton, OH 44708, www.mckinleymuseum.org. He can be reached at 330-455-7043 or email hooverpriceplanetarium@hotmail.com.