{"id":747,"date":"2013-10-09T23:43:01","date_gmt":"2013-10-09T23:43:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/?p=747"},"modified":"2013-10-10T01:13:36","modified_gmt":"2013-10-10T01:13:36","slug":"griffith-observatory-sky-report-for-the-week-ending-wednesday-october-16-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/2013\/10\/09\/griffith-observatory-sky-report-for-the-week-ending-wednesday-october-16-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the week ending Wednesday, October 16, 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"LISTEN to this week\u2019s Sky Report<\/a><\/p>\n

This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the week ending Wednesday, October 16, 2013. Here is what\u2019s happening in the skies of Southern California:<\/p>\n

The brightest planet, Venus, is the bright white light that blazes in the southwest for more than two hours after sunset. On the 9th<\/sup>, the planet appears less than a degree below the second brightest star in Scorpius, delta Scorpii. On following evenings, Venus will appear to move closer to orange Antares, the brightest star of Scorpius. A telescope is needed to see the gibbous phase of Venus.<\/p>\n

The innermost planet, Mercury, appears farthest from the sun on the 9th<\/sup>, but is only 5 degrees above the west-southwest horizon (to the lower right of Venus) 30 minutes after sunset, when the sky darkens enough to pick out Mercury through binoculars. Saturn may also be seen then, about 6 degrees to the upper right of Mercury.<\/p>\n

The moon\u2019s phase changes from waxing crescent to first quarter on Friday, the 11th. After that, it is waxing gibbous, heading to full moon on the 18th<\/sup>. Moonset changes from 10:16 p.m. on the 9th<\/sup> to 4:39 a.m. on the 16th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

Brilliant planet Jupiter, in Gemini the Twins, rises in the east-northeast at midnight. At 5:30 a.m., the start of dawn, Jupiter appears 66 degrees high in the southeast. Jupiter still appears close to Gemini\u2019s star Wasat.<\/p>\n

Orange planet Mars is best seen at the start of dawn, when it is halfway between Jupiter and the eastern horizon. Mars appears above Leo the Lion\u2019s brightest star, Regulus.<\/p>\n

Comet ISON, about 160 million miles from earth, closes from 1\u00bd degrees to 1 degree north of Mars this week. On the 14th<\/sup>, Regulus, Mars, and comet ISON align: Mars is 1 degree north of Regulus, and the comet is 1.1 degree north of Mars. Although comet ISON remains a faint telescopic object, it is a colorful and attractive object in telescopic photographs. More information about comet ISON can be found on our special webpage.<\/a><\/p>\n

The International Space Station makes a fine evening pass over Los Angeles on Thursday the 10th<\/sup>. The ISS will cross the sky from west-southwest to the northeast between 7:00 and 7:07 p.m., P.D.T. It will appear highest, 46 degrees above the northwest horizon at 7:03 p.m.<\/p>\n

Free views of the sun during the day and of the moon, planets, and other celestial objects at night, are available to the public in clear weather through Griffith Observatory\u2019s telescopes Tuesday-Sunday before 9:30 p.m. Check our website for our schedule. The next public star party on the grounds of Griffith Observatory, hosted by the Los Angeles Astronomical Society, the Sidewalk Astronomers, and the Planetary Society, will take place on Saturday, November 9.<\/p>\n

From Griffith Observatory, I\u2019m Anthony Cook and I can be reached at griffithobserver@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LISTEN to this week\u2019s Sky Report This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the week ending Wednesday, October 16, 2013. Here is what\u2019s happening in the skies of Southern California: The brightest planet, Venus, is the bright white light … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-skyreport"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=747"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":749,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747\/revisions\/749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}