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Jupiter and Saturn at the start of the night will be remarkable, very high on the horizon and very bright. Saturn is in the constellation of Capricorn and Jupiter in the head of Pisces. To find them easily, just look at them when they are close to the Moon. Our natural satellite will be very close to Saturn on November 1 and Jupiter on November 4….
If you don’t have a telescope, I invite all of our listeners to observer Jupiter in a pair of binoculars. You will then see very bright Jupiter accompanied by these 4 moons, Io Europe Ganymede and Callisto. Have fun watching or drawing the position of the satellites in relation to Jupiter. You will see them in motion as Galileo first observed in 1610? To see the rings of Saturnyou will still need a small instrument to see them.
Mars is increasingly visible in the constellation of Taurus. You will have to wait for the second part of the night to see this red point of magnitude -1, which is as bright as the brightest of the stars Sirius. We will talk about Mars again in the coming months because it will be closest to Earth in December. However, you can now observe it in a telescope. It is already of good diameter to see the polar caps and colored clouds on its surface. If you have any doubts to find it, Mars will be next to the Moon on the night of October 15 in the morning and on November 11 and 12 in the morning.
shooting stars
You will be able to see theOrionid meteor shower. You certainly know the Perseids in August and well I suggest you discover this less active swarm but which should give rise to beautiful shooting stars. Maximum activity is expected to occur on the night of October 20-21. The crescent Moon will not interfere with seeing the faintest shooting stars and you may well see between 10 and 20 meteors per hour. These shooting stars that seem to come from the constellation of Orion are dust from Halley’s famous comet, which enters the Earth’s atmosphere at 66 km/second.
Other astronomical phenomena not to be missed
I couldn’t not talk about thepartial solar eclipse that will pass Africa on October 25 in the late morning, early afternoon. A quick reminder, a partial solar eclipse occurs when the Moon partially obscures the Sun. Unfortunately this eclipse will only be visible in northeast Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, North and South Sudan, Djibouti, Eritrea and Somalia. The surface of the Sun will be covered only at most at 40% in the northeast of Egypt. Elsewhere it will be rather 10-20% of the surface of the Sun which disappears behind the Moon. For your information, solar eclipses remain rare because the next total solar eclipses in Africa will take place in 2027, 2030 and 2034. See you in northern Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia on August 2, 2027!
A new astronomical telescope to be won
I remind you that a new astronomical telescope is once again put into play thanks to our partners SSVI and RFI. To participate, send on our page Facebook Astronomy Africa your most beautiful photos or videos or even a nice text that you have written. The winner will be announced on January 15. Good comments. Good heavens to all and remember the sky is the biggest screen, just look up.