The M.A.S. Newsletter
Journal of the Mauritius Astronomical Society
October 99
The Next Meeting:
...on Friday 29th of October at 19:00, Collège du Saint Esprit, Quatre Bornes, for the observation of Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn.
The sky this month:
On the 15th, a crescent Moon sets close to Mars. On the opposite side of the sky starts another kind of display: from the 17th till the 23rd, the Orionids meteor shower is visible in the early morning hours. The shower reaches its maximum activity at dawn on the 21st (no Moon after 3:05) with its radient close to the raised club of Orion the hunter. The peak hourly count is expected to be about 20. On the 23rd, Jupiter is at opposition, i.e. aligned with the Earth and Sun. Being at its closest approach, Jupiter is also at its brightest in the sky. Telescope owners may try to see the red spot. On the 24th, Mercury reaches maximum eastern elongation and is visible at sunset (20° above western horizon at 18:30 in the constellation of Libra).
On the 24th, the Moon pays a visit to the planet Jupiter, and on the 25th to Saturn. On the 30th, it is the turn of Venus to reach maximum (western) elongation and can therefore be observed at dawn. On the 4th of November at dawn, a crescent Moon rises close to yet another planet, Venus. Saturn is in opposition on the 6th of November.
The Galileo Space Probe:
Galileo was launched on 18th October 1989. En route to Jupiter, the probe made the first close up pictures of asteroids when it photographed Gaspra and Ida, and returned the historic images of the collision of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter. The probe entered orbit around Jupiter in December 1995. The mission was initially planned to last 2 years, but in December 1997 was followed by a 2 year extended mission to end in January 2000. The spacecraft is gearing up for a daring rendezvous with Jupiter's moon Io, the most volcanic body in our solar system. On Sunday night Oct 10, Galileo will swoop down to within 600 km of Io's fiery surface, snapping the closest-ever pictures of this intriguing celestial body. If all goes well with the upcoming Io flyby, the spacecraft will make an even more daring approach of Io on November 25 at an altitude of only 300 km.
Serge Florens, Secretary