Starry Starry Evening: Night sky has spooky shock | Way of life

Hello everybody! Make positive you search for Venus within the early morning jap sky as a result of it’s not going to be there for much longer.

Jupiter is straightforward to seek out because it’s virtually straight overhead.

Tomorrow is Halloween, and the night sky has a spooky shock for you. Watch one in all our stunning sunsets and because it begins to develop darkish, you’ll see two brilliant eyes gazing you from the sundown glow.

They aren’t eyes, after all, they usually additionally aren’t stars. That’s Mercury and Mars forming a Halloween stare! Mercury reaches its farthest distance above the western horizon tonight.

After it grows darkish, flip fully round and face due east. Measure two fist-widths to the best of due east and 5 fist-widths up. That’s not a star; it’s Saturn and also you simply might need seen all 5 seen planets.

This could also be your final likelihood to try this for some time since we’re dropping each Venus and Mars as they circle across the solar from us.

Although you’ll be able to say that Mercury and Mars are two ghostly eyes peering at you, there aren’t actually any ghosts or goblins within the sky. There’s a king, a queen, a princess and a hero, a flying horse, a goat with a fish tail, three fish and a health care provider. About the most effective I can do for the season are two monsters.

To begin your spooky hunt, round 6:30 p.m., face due east. Very near the jap horizon you’ll see the brightest stars of Cetus the Sea Monster. Cetus can also be a part of a well-known Greek legend that features the king, the queen, the princess, the hero and the flying horse.

After you discover Cetus, flip 90 levels to your left. You’ll be going through north, the placement of the opposite celestial monster in Guam’s autumn skies, Draco the Dragon.

To discover Draco’s triangular head, measure a fist-width down from Vega, the brightest star of the Summer Triangle and a fist-width to the best. Draco’s lengthy physique undulates between the Big and Little Dippers and the Big Dipper has undulated proper out of our early night sky.

And it’s best to be capable to see the Little Dipper mendacity on its facet under the Dragon’s head. The finish star of the Little Dipper’s deal with is Polaris the North Star.

Now, discover Vega and Deneb above and to the left of the Little Dipper. Deneb, the tail star of Cygnus the Swan is the best star and you’ll see the Swan to the left of Deneb. The nice fowl flies endlessly south alongside the Milky Way.

But in case you have darkish skies, measure somewhat over two fist-widths to the best of Deneb and look barely down. If you’re fortunate, you may be capable to select a faint small diamond of stars. That’s the top of a constellation that’s somewhat extra acceptable to the season.

That’s a really dim and barely creepy star group you’ve most likely by no means heard of. That’s Lacerta the Lizard. Dragons, sea monsters and lizards. Happy Halloween!

Pam Eastlick was the coordinator for the previous University of Guam planetarium for the reason that early Nineteen Nineties. She has been scripting this weekly astronomy column since 2003. Send any questions or feedback to [email protected] and we are going to ahead them to her.