Mon Oct 6, 2025 OCTOBER FULL MOON, HARVEST MOON
When the moon rises at sunset today, it will look round and full. This is the Harvest Moon, the full moon which occurs nearest the autumnal equinox, the beginning of fall, which was on September 22nd. In the old days, the light of this full moon was a help to farmers who brought in their harvest of crops, both day and night. The full moon is up all night long - it rises at sunset and doesn’t set until sunrise. Ordinarily the moon rises almost a full hour later from one night to the next, but the Harvest Moon rises only about a half hour later each night, because the angle that the moon’s orbital path makes with our horizon is very shallow at this time of year. This allows it some extra “hang time” in our skies, prolonging its usefulness as a celestial “night light.”
Tue Oct 7, 2025 SPUTNIK, SATELLITES
On October 4, 1957, the world’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik, was sent into earth orbit from a launch site in the Soviet Union. A few months later, the United States successfully launched Explorer 1, and another satellite now revolved about the earth. Today, there are thousands of satellites in orbit; and every so often, you can see one passing overhead. It looks like a moving star, or like a light from a high-flying jet, but the satellite moves along at a pretty good clip, crossing the sky in only a matter of minutes, and yet you can't hear any sound coming from it.These satellites reflect sunlight down to the darkened earth, and so are visible for a couple of hours after sunset or a couple of hours before sunrise, a time when we are in earth's shadow, but the satellite is just outside it. Satellites typically travel from west to east, except for those in polar orbits which move along a north-south path.
Wed Oct 8, 2025 PLANETARIUM SHOW: SATURN, JEWEL OF THE HEAVENS
Today and for the next few weeks the planet Saturn rises just before sunset; it’s over in the eastern sky, a yellow-tinged starlike object in the constellation Pisces. So this weekend Indian River State College will be presenting a show about the planet Saturn at the Hallstrom Planetarium. “Saturn, Jewel of the Heavens,” highlights the remarkable discoveries that have been made about the ringed planet. We fly above Saturn, we sail below its rings, we pass its moons and even land on its largest one, Titan, the only other world we know of with a nitrogen atmosphere like earth’s – except that nitrogen is so cold that it also forms slush lakes that flow across Titan’s surface. And, if skies are clear on Friday night, the Treasure Coast Astronomical Society will be on hand to provide guided views of Saturn in the real sky, weather permitting. Join us this weekend - call the IRSC Box office at 772-462-4750 for tickets.
Thu Oct 9, 2025 HOW MANY STARS?
How many stars are there in the Universe? Well, on a clear dark night you can see a couple thousand up there above you. The best estimates of the number of stars in the Milky Way suggest there are over 200 billion stars in our home galaxy. Beyond the Milky Way there are other galaxies, hundreds of billions of them, each containing billions or trillions of stars. So, how many stars? Here’s a good way to get an idea. Next time you’re at the beach, count the number of grains of sand you can hold in your hand. You’ll be at it a while; there’s roughly 10,000 sand grains in each handful. Now count all the grains of sand on the entire beach. Follow that up by counting all the grains of sand on all the beaches of Florida, and then for extra credit, count all the grains of sand on all the beaches of the world. There are more stars than that in our Universe. Of course, if those stars have planets that have sandy beaches, that’s really a lot of sand!
Fri Oct 10, 2025 SATURN, JEWEL OF THE HEAVENS – NEW PLANETARIUM SHOW
A new show opens tonight at the Hallstrom Planetarium. It’s called, “Saturn, Jewel of the Heavens,” and it highlights the remarkable discoveries made about the ringed planet. We fly above the planet, we sail below its rings, we pass its moons and even land on its largest one, Titan, the only other world we know of with a nitrogen atmosphere like earth’s – except that nitrogen is so cold that it also forms slush lakes that flow across Titan’s surface. One moon, Mimas, has an impact crater that makes it look a lot like the Death Star from Star Wars. Another moon, Hyperion, looks like an overbaked potato. And if skies are clear on Friday night, the Treasure Coast Astronomical Society will be on hand to provide guided views of Saturn in the real sky, weather permitting. Join us this weekend - call the IRSC Box office at 772-462-4750 for tickets.
