2024, October 8: Cat-Eyed Moon

October 8, 2024: The moon is above the Cat’s Eyes, two stars at the Scorpion’s tail.  Tonight, four bright planets are visible.

2021, October 8: The crescent moon with earthshine.
2021, October 8: The crescent moon with earthshine.

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by Jeffrey L. Hunt

Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:56 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 6:20 p.m. CDT.  Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times. Times are calculated by the US Naval Observatory’s MICA computer program.

A comparison of Venus, Earth, Moon and Mars. (NASA)
Chart Caption – A comparison of Venus, Earth, Moon and Mars. (NASA)

Four bright planets are visible tonight.  After sunset, brilliant Venus continues to slowly climb from the hues of evening twilight higher into the west-southwestern sky.  It is stepping eastward in front of Libra toward Scorpius.

Saturn retrogrades, 2024
Chart Caption – 2024: Saturn retrogrades through a single binocular field of view in front of Aquarius during 2024.

Saturn, considerably dimmer than Venus, is in the east-southeast during the early evening.  It retrogrades in front of a dim Aquarius starfield.

This evening, the crescent moon is about one-third of the distance from Venus to Saturn.

Bright Jupiter rises less than four hours after sundown, followed by Mars about two hours later.  Before sunrise, they are high in the southern sky.

Mercury is slowly moving into the evening sky, but it sets during bright twilight.

Here is today’s sky watching highlight:

Cat-Eyed Moon

Cat-Eyed Moon
Chart Caption – 2024, October 8: After sundown, the crescent moon is to the upper left of Venus and above the Cat’s Eyes, two stars at the Scorpion’s tail.

At 40 minutes after sundown, find the crescent moon, 32% illuminated, is 15° up in the south-southwest.  The moon phase is bright enough to slightly illuminate the terrestrial landscape and cast shadows. The lunar orb is in front of Ophiuchus, nearly 15° to Antares’ upper left, the Scorpion’s heart.

While Scorpius is a large constellation, the solar system’s plane cuts across a small section of the constellation near Graffias and Dschubba.  The sun is in front of the stars for less than a week.

Venus steps through the narrow section of the ecliptic starting October 17th and a week later, it strides in front of Ophiuchus.

The Cat’s Eyes

Two stars at the Scorpion’s tail, named Shaula and Lesath, are 7.8° to the moon’s lower left, too far away to fit into the same binocular field with the lunar slice.  Shaula’s name means “the cocked-up part of the Scorpion’s tail,” while Lesath means “the Scorpion’s sting.”

Together, these stars are sometimes known as the “Cat’s Eyes.”  For this evening’s highlight, we are stretching some poetic license to name tonight’s moon, the “Cat-Eyed Moon.”

This image shows the star-studded center of the Milky Way towards the constellation of Sagittarius. The crowded center of our galaxy contains numerous complex and mysterious objects that are usually hidden at optical wavelengths by clouds of dust — but many are visible here in these infrared observations from the Hubble Space Telescope.
Photo Caption – This image shows the star-studded center of the Milky Way towards the constellation of Sagittarius. The crowded center of our galaxy contains numerous complex and mysterious objects that are usually hidden at optical wavelengths by clouds of dust — but many are visible here in these infrared observations from the Hubble Space Telescope. (Photo Credit: ESA, NASA)

In the sky, Lesath is noticeably dimmer than Shaula, but both are intrinsically bright.  Blue-white Lesath is around 500 light years distant and shines with an intensity of over 1,700 suns.  Similarly-hued, Shaula is over 200 light years farther away than Lesath and shines with a brightness of over 9,000 suns.

The Scorpion and Orion are nearly opposite in the sky.  When Scorpius sets, Orion rises.  In mythology, the Scorpion’s sting killed Orion and they were place at opposite extremes in the sky. Tonight, Antares sets two hours after nightfall, while Betelgeuse rises about three hours later.  During the middle of spring, Antares rises less than an hour after Betelgeuse sets.

Use a binocular to inspect the lunar crescent and the Cat’s Eyes during the early evening hours.

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