Saturn will come close to Earth tonight: what astronomical phenomena are expected in October?
In October, Earthlings will see a close approach of Saturn, Mars in the Beehive Cluster, and two meteor showers.
On October 4, Earth and Saturn will come as close as 1.26 billion km. During this period, the planet's rings and moons are better visible. To make out the rings, you need an optical instrument with a magnification of at least 20x. Saturn will rise in the east in the evening, and around one o'clock at night it will be in the south at an altitude of up to 35 degrees.
As 1news.az reports with reference to myweekend.ru, this was described by Russian engineer of the educational astronomical observatory Vladilen Sanakoev.
According to him, on the night of October 5 the Moon will be near Mars and will help find the planet. Mars is visible after midnight low above the horizon in the northeast. On October 11 and 12, the Red Planet will pass through the open cluster Beehive. Through binoculars or a telescope, it will be possible to see Mars surrounded by hundreds of noticeable stars.
On the night of October 9, the Draconid meteor shower is expected, and it can be observed throughout the entire night. "Sometimes the shower produces downpours with thousands of meteors per hour, but this year nothing like that is forecast," Sanakoev said.
On the night of October 22, Earth will cross the dust trail of Halley's Comet — the Orionid shower; its intensity will reach 15-20 meteors per hour. It is better to observe before dawn, when the point from which the meteors emanate in the constellation Orion rises high in the southern part of the sky.
