The North Fork At Night

This Time Of Year There Are Many Interesting Stars To View On The North Fork

The North Fork is beautiful in the Fall. The air is crisp and cool, the beach is peaceful and the trees put on a lovely display of color. It's also happens to be a great time of year to observe the night sky. On clear, cool October nights, when our Northern Hemisphere begins to tilt farther away from the sun, thoughts of summer may be fading but the autumn night sky is just dazzling.

One of the most striking things about the autumn sky is its bright, full moons. The next full moon we will see in October, is what's known as the Hunter's moon. What day it is full depends on where you live, but for those of us on the east coast of the US, this year it will be Friday, October 26th. October's full moon is so special and so spectacular because it is the closest full moon of the year. It looks so big that you could almost reach out and touch it.

October is a great time to stargaze. Autumn constellations, which were just coming into view during September, are directly overhead now. The two constellations that are directly overhead are Pegasus and Andromeda. The easiest way to locate Pegasus is to look straight up and locate a large square formed by bright stars that are exactly in a North-South and East-West formation. This is called the great square of Pegasus. Andromeda is easily found using the same square as the star that makes up the Northeastern corner of the square is the base of the V that makes up Andromeda. Make sure to check out the Milky Way too. A common name for our galaxy, the Milky Way gets its name from the white band of light that is visible from Earth. It is made up of a host of stars and other celestial matter. In October, the Milky Way stretches overhead from horizon to horizon. Take a sweater and sit on your porch. If you can't see it right away, give you eyes some time to adjust. All you need to see it is the dark. Look up and find a strip of light glowing brighter than the darkness. There's something wonderful about it and believe me, it's worth the wait!

October is also a good month for viewing planets, as a number of them are remarkably visible to the naked-eye. Jupiter, bright in the southeast for the past few months, makes its way toward the southwestern sky in autumn. The largest planet in the solar system, it can be seen on the night of October 15th right just alongside a beautiful crescent moon. Venus and Saturn are both visible in the east before sunrise and Mars, the red planet can also be seen clearly on the eastern horizon as an obvious bright, orange star like object in the predawn sky.

On almost any given evening, if you gaze up at the night sky for any length of time you will see be rewarded by the sight of a meteor. Often referred to as shooting stars, they appear as silvery streaks of light, visible for only a few, brief seconds. A meteor is a small part of a comet. When a comet approaches the sun, pieces begin to break off. The larger pieces stay in orbit near the comet itself but the smaller pieces scatter and make up tiny meteoroids! When our Northern Hemisphere's orbit intersects with a trail of meteoroids, it results in a meteor shower. The silvery streaks we see shooting across the night sky are the burning up of these comet fragments coming through our Earth's atmosphere. Meteors are constantly hitting through the atmosphere, however, sometimes swarms of meteors, which orbit the sun give rise to annual showers, which we can predict. The first meteor shower in October, the Droconid shower, which will be on the 8th but the second meteor shower in October is the most spectacular one! Called the Orionid shower, it can be seen on the 21st. Unfortunately, this year it will be competing with nearly a full moon so that the number of shooting stars that can actually be seen will be smaller because of the brighter sky. These meteorites are believed to have originated from the famous Halley's comet. They appear to come from the constellation Orion. However, if you're not familiar with Orion, simply wait until around 11pm, point your toes to the south, look up and towards the east. Enjoy the show and whether or not you choose to call them shooting stars or just plain meteors; just the same, don't forget to make a wish!

Back to Contents