Copyright guampdn
Hello everyone! Make sure you look for Venus in the early morning eastern sky because it’s not going to be there much longer. Jupiter is easy to find since it’s almost straight overhead. Tomorrow is Halloween, and the evening sky has a spooky surprise for you. Watch one of our beautiful sunsets and as it begins to grow dark, you’ll see two bright eyes staring at you from the sunset glow. They aren’t eyes, of course, and they also aren’t stars. That’s Mercury and Mars forming a Halloween stare! Mercury reaches its farthest distance above the western horizon tonight. After it grows dark, turn completely around and face due east. Measure two fist-widths to the right of due east and five fist-widths up. That’s not a star; it’s Saturn and you just might have seen all five visible planets. This may be your last chance to do that for a while since we’re losing both Venus and Mars as they circle around the sun from us. Although you can say that Mercury and Mars are two ghostly eyes peering at you, there aren’t really any ghosts or goblins in the sky. There’s a king, a queen, a princess and a hero, a flying horse, a goat with a fish tail, three fish and a doctor. About the best I can do for the season are two monsters. To start your spooky hunt, around 6:30 p.m., face due east. Very close to the eastern horizon you’ll see the brightest stars of Cetus the Sea Monster. Cetus is also part of a famous Greek legend that includes the king, the queen, the princess, the hero and the flying horse. After you find Cetus, turn 90 degrees to your left. You’ll be facing north, the location of the other celestial monster in Guam’s autumn skies, Draco the Dragon. To find Draco’s triangular head, measure a fist-width down from Vega, the brightest star of the Summer Triangle and a fist-width to the right. Draco’s long body undulates between the Big and Little Dippers and the Big Dipper has undulated right out of our early evening sky. And you should be able to see the Little Dipper lying on its side below the Dragon’s head. The end star of the Little Dipper’s handle is Polaris the North Star. Now, find Vega and Deneb above and to the left of the Little Dipper. Deneb, the tail star of Cygnus the Swan is the right star and you can see the Swan to the left of Deneb. The great bird flies endlessly south along the Milky Way. But if you have dark skies, measure a little over two fist-widths to the right of Deneb and look slightly down. If you’re lucky, you might be able to pick out a faint small diamond of stars. That’s the head of a constellation that’s a little more appropriate to the season. That’s a very dim and slightly creepy star group you’ve probably never heard of. That’s Lacerta the Lizard. Dragons, sea monsters and lizards. Happy Halloween!
