Everything you always wanted to know about astronomy
By Bruce Dennis

This month, the highlights of the heavenly objects include:

• A spectacular grouping of Venus, Saturn, and Regulus with the crescent moon

• Tthe Orionid Meteor Shower

At dusk, Jupiter sinks in the Southwest. Mars is getting brighter and rises later and later in the night sky.

Mercury becomes invisible to our eyes as it sets into the Sun's glow during the early part of October. After the 23rd, it will rise in the East as a morning 'star.' Jupiter sets in the Southwest, following the Sun by about 2 hours. By the end of October, this differential is only about 1 hour. Jupiter is joined on October 15th with the Moon. They'll only be a fistwidth apart.

During the late-night observations, Mars rises in the East- Northeast earlier each night. Mars is the bright orange glowing pumpkin just above the horizon - be sure to look at it when it is at its best viewing position - the higher the better. You can spot it as early as 9:30 PM on October 31st. Try it. Mars gets much brighter this month and if you have a modest sized telescope, you can start seeing some surface features. The best time to view Mars will be just before twilight when the planet is very high.

If you're an early bird, rise about 4:30 AM on October 7th, look east, and view the crescent Moon between Venus and Saturn (Venus will be the bright 'star' on the right, Saturn is on the left). Venus, Saturn, and the Moon are joined by Regulus (a bright star in Leo the Lion). Venus is the highest it'll ever get at dawn. At an hour before Sunrise, it'll be 30 degrees above the horizon (that's a little less than halfway from the horizon to directly overhead). Saturn is much dimmer than Venus because we are looking at the rings almost edge-on (the first time in 10 years that we can only see the edge of the rings). Since there is less area to reflect the Sun's light toward us, it looks dimmer. The most spectacular view of the grouping of the two planets and Regulus will be from October 7th to November 15th, with the closest 'encounter' on the 10th - the 3 will fit behind a quarter held at arm's length from your eye.

Meanwhile, the Orionid Meteor Shower blazes from October 2nd until November 7th, peaking at about October 21st. The pre-dawn hours

about 4:30 AM) are the best for viewing. The meteors are fast - the fastest of all the Showers - about 40 miles per second. Lie on your back at about 2 AM on the 21st with Orion in your view. Orion can be recognized by the 3 'belt'stars. The meteors will seem to radiate from Orion - thus we call it the Orionid Meteor Shower. You should be able to see 20 meteors per hour!

A full Moon occurs on October 26th. A crescent Moon passes Venus on the 6th at 11 PM, Mercury at 9PM on the 12th, and Jupiter at 2 AM on the 16th. On the 27th, an almost-full Moon will eclipse (cover) the Pleiades (7 Sisters). See if you can watch each star of the Pleiades disappear and then pop back into view. Detailed timetables for these occultations can be found at www.lunar-occultations. com/10ta/plnam/pleiadna. htm .You can also track down and view some man-made satellites. You can go to

heavens-above.com , www.celestrak.com/software , or www.s;pace-track.org .

Happy viewing.

Bruce Dennis is a retired science teacher from Haverling High School