Namibia's night sky in October: shooting stars in the morning

In October, Namibia's starry sky rewards early risers among its fans. From 2 October to 7 November, the Orionid meteor shower can be observed in the mornings. Astronomers expect the peak of activity to occur on 21 October.

The centre from which the burning meteorite grains appear to come is located between the constellations Orion (hence their name) and Gemini. It rises shortly before midnight. Meteor showers occur when the Earth flies through streams of small debris left behind by asteroids or comets.

Venus rises at around 5:20 a.m., a good hour before the Sun (all times refer to 15 October; see TimeAndDate.com; location: Windhoek). It is approaching the Sun, so it will soon move from the morning sky to the evening sky. This is why the planet is also known as the 'morning star' and 'evening star'.

Jupiter is already high in the sky in the morning, as it appears in the east at around 1:30 a.m. Saturn rises even earlier, before sunset.

On 6 October, the moon comes very close to Saturn from our perspective. However, this happens the day before the full moon, so it is easy to overlook the ringed planet.

The evening sky has three planets to offer, two of which will quickly disappear. Mercury sets in the west at around 8.30 p.m., more than an hour after the Sun, closely followed by Mars at 8.40 p.m. Saturn, on the other hand, rises in the eastern sky at that time.

Sun and Moon

Sunrise on 1 October is around 6.32 am, sunset around 6.50 pm. On 31 October, the sun rises at around 6.07 am and sets at around 7.03 pm. The length of the day (time with sunlight) will therefore increase by 38 minutes over the course of the month – from 12 hours and 18 minutes to 12 hours and 56 minutes (see Timeanddate.com).

The phases of the moon in October: full moon 7 October, last quarter 13 October, new moon 21 October, first quarter 29 October. The moonlight is therefore the least disturbing when observing the stars and planets at the middle of October.

You can also find out more about the Namibian starry sky in October in the Astro News by Lutz von Dewitz in the news section on the website of the Namibia Scientific Society.

Sven-Eric Stender