See gas giants Jupiter and Saturn at their best

Interactive Transcript

spk_0 Hello and welcome to StarDiary, the podcast from the makers of BBC Sky at Night magazine.

spk_0 You can subscribe to the digital edition of the magazine by visiting iTunes, Google Play

spk_0 or Apple News or to the print edition by visiting Sky at Night magazine.com.

spk_0 Hello everybody and welcome to the October edition with the Fred Lynn Colleague Pete Lawrence

spk_0 and me Paul Abel and as ever we will start with the inner solar system and Mercury is an

spk_0 evening planet during October. It reaches greatest eastern elongation so it's

spk_0 further distance from the Sun in the sky on the 29th of October where it will be separated by

spk_0 the Sun by 23.9 degrees. Now that sounds really impressive but unfortunately it's quite low

spk_0 down isn't it? I think rubbish is the best term to describe that. In fact that's going to be the

spk_0 case for the three. How can I describe that? I was going to say the three. The terrestrial planet.

spk_0 Yes, the terrestrial planet. Thank you. The astrophysics comes to the rescue with an actual

spk_0 definition of what these things are. The rocky ones. Okay, yes, very well put Paul.

spk_0 So the Mercury Venus and Mars are not well placed at the moment. Venus for example is a

spk_0 morning planet and it's worsening throughout October because it's creeping nearer to the Sun.

spk_0 Having said that, I mean on the first of October it does rise two hours, 20 minutes for sunrise

spk_0 but by the end of the month that's reduced to just 97 minutes. So it's a big drop off.

spk_0 It is, of course, if you can observe it in the daytime sky using setting circles it's not too bad

spk_0 but of course in October the Sun isn't particularly high either so there's no getting around the

spk_0 father disease. These these all planets are just low now. Yes they are and Mars is well it's an

spk_0 evening planet but it's sort of hanging on in there isn't it? I haven't seen it. It's very

spk_0 difficult to pick out actually. I think it's I think it's when Mars is in this part of its orbit

spk_0 it's actually harder to see the Mercury. It is so faint against the Sun. You should say that

spk_0 because on the 19th of October it sits two degrees north of Mercury but both planets are just so

spk_0 badly positioned. It's probably going to be very difficult to see. However it's not all bad is

spk_0 it? No because we have the next classification of planets the gas giant. Okay, drop it in.

spk_0 Those are these are pretty good though. Let's start with Jupiter because Jupiter is really quite

spk_0 prominent now. It doesn't manage to reach opposition in 2025. The last opposition was 7th of December

spk_0 2024 and that's good because you know it's high in the sky. The next opposition now will be

spk_0 on the 10th of January and the reason we have this is because Jupiter's orbit is about 12 years long

spk_0 so it dispense approximately one opposition in each constellation. So Jupiter will be very high.

spk_0 It's in the constellation of Gemini so when I say practically overhead I mean really overhead.

spk_0 It's practically overhead. Really is overhead now. I mean it's exciting when it's in this position

spk_0 because it is so high and we've been moaning for years about it being so low down that the southern

spk_0 hemisphere have got everything in terms of the big interesting planets but now we have Jupiter back

spk_0 and we need to take advantage of that because Jupiter is coming to an equinox in December of 2026

spk_0 so like Saturn has been where it appears virtually edge on to when it did appear edge on to us

spk_0 earlier in the year Jupiter will appear edge on to us as well as we approach that time

spk_0 and that may not sound that exciting because Jupiter hasn't got a ring which we can see

spk_0 easily through amateur scopes so you're not going to get the effects with the rings but you are

spk_0 going to get effects with things like the outer Galilean moon which is the listo which can interact

spk_0 with Jupiter and also as you get closer the few months either side of the equinox you're going to get

spk_0 what are called mutual events where the moons can appear to interact with one another and do

spk_0 like that I do like that when one moon passes in front of each other or when one moon sat shadow

spk_0 eclipse is part of another I don't think that's a great to watch they are amazing and you know you

spk_0 might think who have any got a small telescope I'm not going to be able to see anything with with that

spk_0 happening but you can because if the shadow of one moon passes across another moon it dims it so when

spk_0 you're looking at Jupiter you've got those little dots representing the Galilean moons the suddenly one

spk_0 will start to dim down and that's because the shadow of another moon is passing across it and that's

spk_0 pretty incredible it is really good the interesting thing is he doesn't just wink out and

spk_0 because the Galilean moons themselves even a small telescope really are tiny little discs it is

spk_0 a slow fade not just a winking out yes so I do have a complaint though okay all right so

spk_0 the Jupiter is high in the sky it's going to be winter which means because I'm five foot nothing I

spk_0 have to stand on my steps to look through the IP's like a tie like a child and it's going to be

spk_0 no you supposed to be so listen and we don't judge me I just try to work out if anybody actually cares

spk_0 and yes they do I'm going to go cares and it's high seat and I'm going to slip and I'm going to fall

spk_0 and it's all your faults so oh that's that's just looking at the worst case I do remember actually

spk_0 observing I think it was in Patrick's 15 inch observatory dome which was extremely cold and I

spk_0 and it was so cold it was like when you touched the the step ladders all the heat was drawn out

spk_0 of your hands yes and wow that's cold but we should point out that the mutual events aren't going

spk_0 to be happening until later on in 2026 but you can see the Callisto events and there are some

spk_0 Callisto events which we're listing in the magazine and we might mention some a bit later on

spk_0 actually so we've got Jupiter it's really good Saturn is well positioned as well because that

spk_0 had opposition on the 21st of September so that's just last month so it's really well placed

spk_0 it's not getting as high as Jupiter but it gets to 34 degrees and we'll take that because it's

spk_0 been so low for such a long time it clears the rooftops I mean that's that's the difference it

spk_0 makes it does now clear the rooftops and gets away from the rooftops so it is it is good to see

spk_0 and of course as we've been saying in these in these podcasts actually the sad rings are almost

spk_0 edge on now so they're very very narrow so this is quite a unique time to to observe Saturn yes they

spk_0 will actually go to very narrow tilt angle in the middle of next month which is is about as close

spk_0 to being edge on as you can get without being edge on so that'll be worth looking out for

spk_0 we've still got Titan events but we are losing the shadow now because the Sun has crept up in

spk_0 Saturn's southern hemisphere the angle of Titan's shadow is now missing the planets if you haven't

spk_0 managed to see one of those and I've seen just one really fuzzy one so far yeah wait a minute you

spk_0 said you couldn't make it out so you didn't see it you're putting it on for the people listening

spk_0 so don't give me that that's not true the camera the camera did pick it up but it was it was so

spk_0 you're seeing it that isn't it isn't no it isn't no it's not the same things no that's right

spk_0 make it worse for me that's make it worse for me I have no sympathy at all it's but it is hard

spk_0 that it is that just shows how difficult it is because you need to have the seeing to be able to

spk_0 make this out really well and you've got to have the good timing as well and if you don't get those

spk_0 then you're in trouble you just cannot pick them out and it's such a long time until the next you

spk_0 know it's about 15 years now I think it's 20 20 20 30 eight I think a long way way so yeah

spk_0 and so it is a bit of a nuisance but nonetheless as you say we still have Titan events so Titan

spk_0 passing front in as a transit so that that's also quite rare for the reasons they carry on until

spk_0 about February and then they stop and so they're yeah they're still there to look out for okay so

spk_0 the next category of planet pool is an ice giant it's really yeah so we've got Uranus and Neptune

spk_0 actually Neptune is located really close to Saturn so that had opposition just a couple of days after

spk_0 Saturn I feel I feel sorry I feel a bit bad about Neptune because I've made quite a few

spk_0 sound inspections now and not once turn the telescope onto Neptune which is like like two degrees

spk_0 away so I know I know I know but yeah yes so as you say this is a good time to try and find Neptune

spk_0 if you've never found Neptune before use you can offset from Saturn and it is only a short hop

spk_0 away it's I mean you with an average telescope you're not going to see a great deal on Neptune to

spk_0 be fair you will see even with a large telescope you don't see it you will see its disc but the

spk_0 thing to look out for is Triton which does stand out quite well it's surprisingly easy and it's

spk_0 it's quite thrilling to actually be able to see it to be honest such a distant moon we should

spk_0 mention of course we've just hopped over Uranus which reaches opposition next month and so it's

spk_0 really well placed observation as well it's actually a slow mover they're both slow movers aren't

spk_0 they Uranus and Neptune they do creep around the sky and now Uranus has moved from a position which

spk_0 was in aries which was it wasn't difficult to locate but it wasn't the best place to find it

spk_0 to a location which places it to the south of the Pleiades so that will mean it should get a bit more

spk_0 attention and it's worth the attention because it's quite an interesting planet it is and in fact

spk_0 amateur observations as well as professional observations have shown that's considerable variability

spk_0 in the atmosphere so storms come and go so it's very unusual and it is worth keeping an eye on

spk_0 because we've got the ability to amateurs now have the ability to really monitor these gash in

spk_0 these ice giants in a way that was never done before so and professional telescopes just don't get

spk_0 reaches magnitude plus 5.6 this month which means that in theory you should be able to see it with

spk_0 naked eye I've tried this plenty of times and the problem is there's so many field stars

spk_0 by they could they only gonna be slightly brighter and I think you'll pick those up so I'm not

spk_0 sure I've ever seen it with the naked eye I tried it that time when we're in the Palmer but there

spk_0 I couldn't be 100% sure no okay well somebody will beat you to it then now it's time okay well let's

spk_0 go on move on to some of the specials which are occurring this month so we've got dwarf planet

spk_0 series which is also reaching opposition in the constellation of cetus and that will occur on the

spk_0 second of october and then on the sixth between 0 to 18 bst and 0551 um 0551 is around when sat

spk_0 and set you'll be able to see titan in transit across the planet's disc and the shadow does begin

spk_0 to transit at about 0442 but it's unlikely you're going to be able to see that to be honest

spk_0 yeah it's going to be tough um on the seventh we have the full moon and this is the closest to the

spk_0 northern hemisphere's ultimichranox making this the true harvest moon of 2025 it's also a full moon

spk_0 perid at perigee this is the point when the moon is at its closest point to the earth in its

spk_0 orbit and perigee occurs at 1336 bst actually on the 8th of october the harvest moon of course is the

spk_0 moon which the fuller phase is rise from one day to the next the difference between moon rise

spk_0 for those fuller phases rising on consecutive days is minimized for the year so it goes down to

spk_0 it's around 15 minutes or lower at this time of year which is pretty good because the average is

spk_0 about 50 minutes yeah it's quite impressive so it's it's pretty good um on the 10th the moon

spk_0 occult part of the plighty's open cluster in the morning um the event is slightly

spk_0 ruined by the onset of dawn twilight however yeah but this was a nice thing to look out for

spk_0 that actually might be helpful because one of the big problems whenever i don't know it's probably

spk_0 true for imaging i don't know if it's certainly true for visual it's just because how bright the moon

spk_0 is they could be really overpowering for the even the brighter stars in the pleady star cluster

spk_0 so having some twilight might help would you just glare them in of course it does also

spk_0 into fifth the starlight as well so i'm not sure whether it's a help or hindrance or what actually

spk_0 makes no difference at all well you'll be able to observe it and and record that and then make

spk_0 that observation indeed on the 13th titan will be occulted by satan uh and we get the transits when

spk_0 titan moves in front of satan's disc but of course as it moves halfway around it's all bit

spk_0 it then can interact with um the planet as well we've also got a double shadow transits

spk_0 on Jupiter with iow and ganymede shadow visible from 04 11bst on the morning of the 13th so that's

spk_0 quite a nice thing to look out for isn't it it is i quite like that i just say ganymede shadow is so

spk_0 large yeah um that is always quite an an impressive thing to see um on the 14th um as it rises the 36

spk_0 percent lit waning crescent moon is located just 1.2 degrees north of the center of the beehive

spk_0 cluster m 44 but a lot of visits this year the beehive cluster it has yes so on the 21st we have

spk_0 the peak of the orinid meteor shower and this year's peak is favorable because there's no moon

spk_0 in the way but the orinids is not a rich shower by any means it's got a zenithal hourly rate of

spk_0 about 20 meters per hour um but they are fairly easy to see earlier uh when the early hours of the

spk_0 morning um because they Orion rises to a decent altitude early morning and the meteors of the

spk_0 orinid shower appear to emanate from a location not too far from bettligus in the north uh east corner

spk_0 of the main pattern so it's quite easy to be able to identify the radiant but as you say not a lot

spk_0 of meteors but just still worth watching out for are also on the 21st titan will transit satan from 2341

spk_0 bst until the planet sets and this shadow follows at over 20 bst this is on the morning now of the

spk_0 20th of october the shadow is probably going to be very difficult but certainly you'll be able to see

spk_0 the transit of titan if the skies are clear i think the planet gets just gets too low to be able to

spk_0 see the shadow now yeah um and it's it's really it's just clipping one pole so it may not be

spk_0 that easy to pick out okay well on the 26th the uk's period of daylight savings come to an end

spk_0 so the clocks revert back from 02 bst to 01 u t in the morning we don't have to keep doing the

spk_0 transition um and on the 20th yes and on the 29th satan's largest moon is occulted by the planet

spk_0 again at 2038 u t yay and on the 30th at around 22 30 u t this time is slightly very

spk_0 independent where you're located uh the 62% lit waxing give us moon will occult magnitude 3.7 star

spk_0 gamma capricorni nashira nashira that's a great name it sounds like a that sounds like a name

spk_0 it should be in star trade we're in orbit around the shearer 4 it's got a good sort of ring to it

spk_0 okay well there weren't any uh calista events in there they'll they'll be

spk_0 there you see it once more you're promising and not delivering i don't know i am i'm well the

spk_0 the reason for this is that at this time of year when we're recording this i i have my fingers

spk_0 in lots of different pies in terms of observing events because um i compile all the special events

spk_0 and things for the uh skynight magazine um astronomers handbook the yearbook we call it internally

spk_0 and my brain is just scrambled across several years at the moment this isn't a coffee morning

spk_0 but they've taken to this to a strong day not your life host this isn't a therapy morning

spk_0 night's therapy session come on night sky let's get back to put it together pull it together

spk_0 but i can tell you there are some calista events coming up and the magazine will list them as well

spk_0 so do look forward to those they are going to be quite fantastic um okay so the night sky

spk_0 where we've got a sickness the swan which is a large uh constellation occupying the northeast

spk_0 area of the summer triangle and that's still very prominent even though we tend to think of it as a

spk_0 summer constellation um it depicts a south flying swan doing a swan dive if you like

spk_0 wings out stretch down towards the horizon um the swan's beak is marked by that beautiful binary

spk_0 star albario um which is just glorious through any telescope isn't it it is it's quite a spectacular

spk_0 sight um the the two components are sort of gold and orange and turquoise it it really is quite a

spk_0 stunning sight we also have in sickness quite a bright uh when it's a maximum variable star that's

spk_0 kai signa i which is a red giant um that was recently at getting to maximum uh we're re-recording this

spk_0 for vp in uh in august and it's coming to its maximum point now and it's amazing how

spk_0 it's it's it's so obvious in an 80 millimeter telescope but when it dims right down to its minimum

spk_0 you know you can bet it's really tough to see uh we're with a small telescope and the color

spk_0 disappears as well but when it's at its bright maximum doesn't look like a red hot coal that's

spk_0 a nice way to describe it the classic variables aren't they kai signa i can remember

spk_0 i quite like i like tholum to get quite a nice pleasing like from it um but yeah there's plenty of

spk_0 plenty of things of interest uh in in in sickness okay well the southeast of albario is a rather

spk_0 underwhelming constellation of volpecular the fox um the original name was volpecular at answer the

spk_0 fox fox on goose and um it sounds like a part yes it does i could patrick or was used to say

spk_0 this i don't know where the goose has gone maybe the fox has eaten him um but i think the primary

spk_0 star actually alpha volpecule actually goes under the name answer i might be wrong about that but i

spk_0 i think that's the case um when at one time it was broken into smaller patterns which did represent

spk_0 both creatures um so yeah it's an it's an interesting pattern now isn't it because it's actually

spk_0 quite large it goes right up the eastern side of sickness with no structure at all no that's

spk_0 the problem it's just a random collection of faint darts that's got no discernible shape to it

spk_0 whatsoever well i mean the main the main pattern are faint dots again and they just sort of make a

spk_0 bent line that's all it is which is um yes difficult to make out the fox there um but it does

spk_0 contain an asterism known as brocky's cluster colander 399 which is just visible to naked eye um

spk_0 and with binoculars it brings out its shape quite clearly um and it looks like a coat hanger

spk_0 and like it's it's quite ironic isn't it where you get the faint constellations the volpecule

spk_0 does contain some rather nice objects like m27 the dumbbell nebula it does it does i actually had

spk_0 a look at this fairly recently uh and uh you could detect the bluish color um it does have a lower

spk_0 surface brightness than m57 the ring nebula but you really can certainly with a large telescope even

spk_0 from a city uh see this kind of apple core shape that you get with it i wasn't able to see the

spk_0 central star though so okay i probably needed a larger telescope for that okay well volpecular

spk_0 marks the western end of a short line of small constellations which includes sagittar the arrow

spk_0 delphanus the dolphin and aculius the fall aculius has never impressed me i must say no

spk_0 mainly though i can't even bring it i can't even bring the stars to mind at the format but sagittar

spk_0 does resemble an arrow sagittar is uh quite distinctive constellation little tiny little constellation

spk_0 but it is but as as is delfinus actually that little diamond of delfinus is quite quite uh easy

spk_0 to identify once you've seen it yes it is it's a lovely little constellation it does

spk_0 does look a bit like at a dolphin's nose and the beginning of the neck that's what it's supposed to

spk_0 represent just poking out of the sea um so it does it does sort of work it's an interesting pattern

spk_0 it's quite condensed and quite well defined and actually actually people do sometimes mistake it

spk_0 for the pliades but um it doesn't really look like the pliades but uh it's i guess i

spk_0 i understand how that happens but as i say aculius which is on the end of that line is very

spk_0 interesting but it does lead the way to another equine constellation um which is it's just as

spk_0 complicated to describe um which is Pegasus the flying horse now from the UK Pegasus is upside down

spk_0 and you're only seeing the torso so the head is so basically the biggest pattern in there is the

spk_0 great square of Pegasus which is an asterism and the head hangs off of the um the south west corner

spk_0 as a triangular shape and then the front legs are off the north west corner yeah it's heading up the

spk_0 sky it's kind of tough to see a horse but uh the the square Pegasus is uh is quite quite a distinctive

spk_0 asterism i guess we would say uh and there's some interesting things you can use to find it so

spk_0 the start at the head uh of uh Pegasus uh it's the star enif and if you move away from that you can

spk_0 come up to the bright hobby cluster m15 which is really quite a nice globular that's right

spk_0 yes it is it's really it's quite stunning uh and quite a compact structure in fact it's a lovely

spk_0 object are you that's right you go from barham which is the star at the top of Pegasus's head which

spk_0 because he's upside down as at the bottom of that triangle through enif which represents the horses

spk_0 nose and i think you extend it for it's about half the distance again isn't it to get to him for

spk_0 it's not it's not far and the great thing is it's actually really obvious in a finder's

spk_0 gap it is uh it's because it's such a uh striking object i think is it's one of my favorite globular

spk_0 clusters i would agree with that actually yes it's a it's a nice um a nice globular well the flying

spk_0 horses torso is marked by the great square of Pegasus and we often mention the fact that this is a

spk_0 bit of an oddity because only three stars in the great square are actually belonged to Pegasus the

spk_0 one in the north east corner is alpharats which is the the main star of uh andromeda

spk_0 the the princess the chain princess it did used to belong to Pegasus um used to be called

spk_0 sira i think uh which was delta Pegasai um but not anymore the i a u in the infinite wisdom

spk_0 have said no it is clearly a part of andromeda so it's the square so maybe it's the great triangle

spk_0 of Pegasus but just the great square maybe we should separate the Pegasus out from the great square

spk_0 the great square would work actually wouldn't it there's another there's another oddity actually

spk_0 there because if you go from alpharats you know andromeda stretches off from the uh north east corner

spk_0 as a sort of wedge shape where the three stars you've got there along the main bottom part of that

spk_0 wedge are alpharats which we've already mentioned you've got Mirac and you've got almak and those

spk_0 stars have exactly the same magnitude i didn't know that yeah there we go no i didn't know that

spk_0 with that little well mild mildly surprised i don't impressed is a bit too far yeah that's

spk_0 interesting i will check to make sure you're just not making this up yeah yeah i think they're 2.1

spk_0 so Pegasus's front legs are represented by that collection of faint ziggity's egg stars if you

spk_0 like off the um the north west corner and they sort of if you carry on north from those you end

spk_0 up in la Certa the lizard which is it's a prominent position la Certa you know in the sky

spk_0 it is but there's no prominence to us in it you've got the mini w which looks like a little

spk_0 version of cassiopia um okay you're not convinced about i've been said before yeah okay just you

spk_0 repeating it doesn't make it more convincing because i just a little okay i mean i think the

spk_0 searcher is a very vague constellation i find it well it's a modern constellation um it's supposed

spk_0 to represent a Mediterranean lizard but i don't think there's any mythology associated with it um

spk_0 so i think i think it's a nice little pattern but like a coolius there's not much

spk_0 there really in terms of of deep sky treasures i think there are a few clusters in la Certa

spk_0 that you could look out for and a few very faint planetary nebulae which is more than a coolius

spk_0 has got in there i have to say never mind there's plenty of other things to look at in the

spk_0 night sky there's butthole yes there are so thank you very much for your time Paul and hope you've

spk_0 enjoyed our virtual planetarium and uh we'll be back next month thank you thanks babe

spk_0 thank you for listening to this episode of the star diary podcast from the makers of BBC Sky

spk_0 Night magazine which was edited by Louis dobs for more of our podcasts visit our website at skynight

spk_0 magazine.com slash podcasts or head to spotify iTunes or your favorite podcast player

See gas giants Jupiter and Saturn at their best

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