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00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Anna: At 5 o' clock Saturday morning, Sydney time,
00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 NASA's leadership stood up at the Kennedy
00:00:05 --> 00:00:08 Space Centre and laid out day by day
00:00:08 --> 00:00:10 how they intend to put people back on the
00:00:10 --> 00:00:13 moon. And the first thing they told us is
00:00:13 --> 00:00:16 that the next crew isn't going anywhere near
00:00:16 --> 00:00:16 it.
00:00:17 --> 00:00:20 Avery: 14 days in low earth orbit. 2
00:00:20 --> 00:00:22 different lunar landers from 2 rival
00:00:22 --> 00:00:25 companies launched on 2 different rockets and
00:00:25 --> 00:00:28 1 Orion capsule trying to dock with both of
00:00:28 --> 00:00:30 them. It's a dress rehearsal and it's a
00:00:30 --> 00:00:31 tiebreaker.
00:00:31 --> 00:00:34 Anna: Plus the week that was a farewell
00:00:34 --> 00:00:37 to an old friend of this show and a
00:00:37 --> 00:00:40 sky where Venus quietly swaps sides.
00:00:40 --> 00:00:43 Avery: This is Astronomy AstroDailyPod, the weekend
00:00:43 --> 00:00:45 wrap for Saturday 24th October.
00:00:45 --> 00:00:46 I'm Avery.
00:00:47 --> 00:00:49 Anna: And I'm Anna. Let's get into it.
00:00:49 --> 00:00:52 Avery: If you listened on Wednesday, you'll know we
00:00:52 --> 00:00:53 got the day of this briefing wrong and
00:00:53 --> 00:00:56 corrected it on Thursday. So consider this
00:00:56 --> 00:00:59 the loop closed. NASA held its Artemis update
00:00:59 --> 00:01:01 on Friday afternoon at AH2 Eastern at the
00:01:01 --> 00:01:04 Press site at UH Kennedy with Administrator
00:01:04 --> 00:01:07 Jared Isaacman, Associate Administrator Amit
00:01:07 --> 00:01:09 M. Chatria and the Artemis Programme Manager,
00:01:09 --> 00:01:10 Jeremy Parsons.
00:01:11 --> 00:01:14 Anna: And the headline is that Artemis 3
00:01:14 --> 00:01:17 is still on track for the summer of 2027,
00:01:17 --> 00:01:20 northern summer, and that it's now a 14
00:01:20 --> 00:01:23 day mission in low Earth orbit rather than a
00:01:23 --> 00:01:25 moon landing. That change itself isn't
00:01:25 --> 00:01:28 new. NASA converted Artemis III back in
00:01:28 --> 00:01:31 February. What's new is that we finally
00:01:31 --> 00:01:32 have the flight plan.
00:01:32 --> 00:01:35 Avery: Let's walk it. It takes three of the most
00:01:35 --> 00:01:38 powerful rockets in the world. First up is
00:01:38 --> 00:01:41 Blue Origin. A new Glenn launches a test
00:01:41 --> 00:01:44 version of its blue moon mark two lander from
00:01:44 --> 00:01:46 Launch Complex 36 at uh, Cape Canaveral.
00:01:47 --> 00:01:49 And it sits in orbit while Blue Origin checks
00:01:49 --> 00:01:50 it out.
00:01:50 --> 00:01:53 Anna: Then the crew four astronauts launch
00:01:53 --> 00:01:56 on the Space Launch System and orion from
00:01:56 --> 00:01:59 pad 39B at Kennedy.
00:01:59 --> 00:02:02 Orion spends its first couple of days on
00:02:02 --> 00:02:05 systems checks, then raises itself into a
00:02:05 --> 00:02:07 rendezvous orbit about
00:02:07 --> 00:02:09 237 nautical miles up.
00:02:10 --> 00:02:12 That's roughly 440 kilometres.
00:02:12 --> 00:02:15 Avery: On day three, Orion meets Blue Moon and
00:02:15 --> 00:02:17 docks. And this is the part I find
00:02:17 --> 00:02:20 genuinely striking. Over the next two days,
00:02:20 --> 00:02:23 the crew opens the hatch, floats into the
00:02:23 --> 00:02:26 lander's cabin and works through its life
00:02:26 --> 00:02:28 support and controls with mission control
00:02:29 --> 00:02:31 people inside a lunar lander in Earth
00:02:31 --> 00:02:34 orbit for the first time since Apollo.
00:02:34 --> 00:02:37 Anna: Then SpaceX, a Starship test
00:02:37 --> 00:02:39 lander, launches from pad 39A, a
00:02:39 --> 00:02:42 few kilometres up the coast from where Orion
00:02:42 --> 00:02:44 lifted off. Orion undocks from
00:02:44 --> 00:02:47 Blue Moon, adjusts its orbit, and on
00:02:47 --> 00:02:50 day eight, it docks with Starship.
00:02:50 --> 00:02:52 That docking is short about two hours
00:02:53 --> 00:02:55 and this time the crew stays inside Orion.
00:02:56 --> 00:02:58 Avery: The rest of the mission is spacesuit
00:02:58 --> 00:03:00 evaluations, human research, science
00:03:00 --> 00:03:02 experiments and technology demonstrations.
00:03:02 --> 00:03:05 And then Orion comes home to a splashdown.
00:03:05 --> 00:03:08 NASA's own summary describes the point of it
00:03:08 --> 00:03:10 as validating the coordination of multiple
00:03:10 --> 00:03:13 launch systems. And They've said the 14 days
00:03:13 --> 00:03:15 could stretch the 17 if weather or anything
00:03:15 --> 00:03:16 else slips a launch.
00:03:17 --> 00:03:20 Anna: So why do this at all rather than just go?
00:03:21 --> 00:03:23 Avery: Isaacman's argument back in February
00:03:23 --> 00:03:26 was about gaps. One uncrewed
00:03:26 --> 00:03:29 flight of the big rocket, three years,
00:03:29 --> 00:03:32 a crewed flight around the moon, another
00:03:32 --> 00:03:35 three years and then a landing. He said,
00:03:35 --> 00:03:37 in effect, that you don't learn to land on
00:03:37 --> 00:03:39 the moon in one jump from there. You need
00:03:39 --> 00:03:40 flights in between.
00:03:41 --> 00:03:43 Anna: And if that sounds familiar, it should.
00:03:44 --> 00:03:47 In March 1969, Apollo 9
00:03:47 --> 00:03:49 took the lunar module up for its first crewed
00:03:49 --> 00:03:52 flight and tested it in Earth orbit,
00:03:52 --> 00:03:54 undocking, separation,
00:03:55 --> 00:03:58 rendezvous and docking again, all close to
00:03:58 --> 00:03:59 home, where a problem could be survived.
00:04:00 --> 00:04:03 Two months later, Apollo 10 went to the moon
00:04:03 --> 00:04:06 and flew down to within about 15 kilometres
00:04:06 --> 00:04:09 of the surface. And then Apollo
00:04:09 --> 00:04:09 11.
00:04:10 --> 00:04:12 Avery: Artemis 3 is Apollo 9,
00:04:13 --> 00:04:15 except this time there are two landers from
00:04:15 --> 00:04:17 two companies and they're competing.
00:04:18 --> 00:04:20 Anna: And that competition is the other half of
00:04:20 --> 00:04:23 yesterday's news, because the two companies
00:04:23 --> 00:04:25 now have quite different plans for actually
00:04:25 --> 00:04:28 getting crew to the surface. On Artemis 4,
00:04:28 --> 00:04:30 which NASA is targeting for 2028.
00:04:31 --> 00:04:34 Avery: SpaceX's plan is the simpler one to picture.
00:04:34 --> 00:04:37 Starship would dock with Orion in Earth orbit
00:04:37 --> 00:04:40 and then use its own engines to push the
00:04:40 --> 00:04:43 whole stack, crew capsule and all, out
00:04:43 --> 00:04:45 to the moon. The lander is also the
00:04:45 --> 00:04:46 translunar stage.
00:04:46 --> 00:04:49 Anna: Blue Origin goes the other way. Blue Moon
00:04:49 --> 00:04:52 would fly itself out to lunar orbit using
00:04:52 --> 00:04:54 separate transfer stages derived from its
00:04:54 --> 00:04:57 uncrewed Mark one lander. And Orion would
00:04:57 --> 00:05:00 meet it there in orbit around the moon. That
00:05:00 --> 00:05:02 replaces a big propellant carrying
00:05:02 --> 00:05:04 transporter vehicle that Blue Origin had in
00:05:04 --> 00:05:05 its earlier architecture.
00:05:06 --> 00:05:08 Avery: NASA hasn't picked which one flies Artemis
00:05:08 --> 00:05:09 IV.
00:05:09 --> 00:05:12 Isaacman described Artemis 3 as
00:05:12 --> 00:05:14 effectively the tiebreaker. And both
00:05:14 --> 00:05:16 companies are still saying they intend to
00:05:16 --> 00:05:18 land in 2028 either way.
00:05:19 --> 00:05:21 So the docking tests next year aren't a
00:05:21 --> 00:05:23 formality, they're an audition.
00:05:25 --> 00:05:26 Anna: Now, we need to be straight about the
00:05:26 --> 00:05:29 calendar because there's a lot of pressure on
00:05:29 --> 00:05:29 it.
00:05:29 --> 00:05:32 Avery: Isaacman himself said Artemis 3 is about
00:05:32 --> 00:05:35 90 days behind on paper, mainly supply
00:05:35 --> 00:05:37 chain delays on both companies test landers.
00:05:38 --> 00:05:40 He was blunt about the size of the job,
00:05:40 --> 00:05:41 calling what they're attempting
00:05:42 --> 00:05:43 extraordinarily difficult.
00:05:44 --> 00:05:47 Anna: And look at the hardware. Blue
00:05:47 --> 00:05:49 Origin's new. Glenn hasn't flown since a
00:05:49 --> 00:05:51 launchpad explosion during a static fire test
00:05:51 --> 00:05:54 in May. So that pad is being rebuilt.
00:05:55 --> 00:05:57 Starship reached orbit for the first time
00:05:57 --> 00:05:59 only last month on Flight 14.
00:06:00 --> 00:06:02 Parsons said SpaceX is targeting Flight 15
00:06:02 --> 00:06:05 for November from Starbase and its first
00:06:05 --> 00:06:08 in space propellant transfer demonstration,
00:06:08 --> 00:06:11 Starship to starship for early 2027.
00:06:11 --> 00:06:14 That refuelling is the thing SpaceX's lunar
00:06:14 --> 00:06:15 lander cannot work without.
00:06:16 --> 00:06:19 Avery: Parsons answer to the risk was that uh, there
00:06:19 --> 00:06:21 will be multiple Starship launches and
00:06:21 --> 00:06:23 multiple new Glenn launches from the rebuild
00:06:23 --> 00:06:26 pad before anyone flies Artemis 3,
00:06:27 --> 00:06:30 which is a reasonable answer. But every one
00:06:30 --> 00:06:31 of those dates is a target.
00:06:32 --> 00:06:35 We'll say targeted, not scheduled and
00:06:35 --> 00:06:36 we'll report them when they happen.
00:06:37 --> 00:06:39 Anna: A couple of smaller details worth keeping eye
00:06:39 --> 00:06:42 on. Axiom Space is developing a
00:06:42 --> 00:06:45 second lighter moonwalking suit, a
00:06:45 --> 00:06:48 ah, sortie suit at roughly 113
00:06:48 --> 00:06:51 kilogrammes, about half the mass of its main
00:06:51 --> 00:06:53 suit, which means less for each lander to
00:06:53 --> 00:06:56 carry. And Blue Origin still plans to
00:06:56 --> 00:06:59 send its uncrewed mark one cargo
00:06:59 --> 00:07:02 lander called Endurance to the Moon in
00:07:02 --> 00:07:03 2027.
00:07:03 --> 00:07:06 Avery: And here's a counterpoint that landed the
00:07:06 --> 00:07:06 same week.
00:07:07 --> 00:07:09 NASA's landing target is the south polar
00:07:09 --> 00:07:11 region, because that's where the water ice
00:07:11 --> 00:07:14 is. On Wednesday, a National
00:07:14 --> 00:07:17 Academies committee led by Daniel Dumbacher
00:07:17 --> 00:07:19 of Purdue recommended four sites for human
00:07:19 --> 00:07:22 exploration based purely on science.
00:07:22 --> 00:07:24 And none of them is at the pole.
00:07:25 --> 00:07:27 Anna: Baba Crater on the far side.
00:07:28 --> 00:07:30 Bons Hadley, near where Apollo 15
00:07:30 --> 00:07:33 landed, beside Hadley Rille, the
00:07:33 --> 00:07:36 Oriental Basin, that huge bullseye
00:07:36 --> 00:07:39 right on the moon's western limb. And the
00:07:39 --> 00:07:42 Aristarchus Plateau, home to the brightest
00:07:42 --> 00:07:43 crater on the near side, which you can pick
00:07:43 --> 00:07:45 out in a small telescope.
00:07:45 --> 00:07:48 Avery: Their argument is that these are the places
00:07:48 --> 00:07:51 where a human geologist rather than a
00:07:51 --> 00:07:53 rover, answers the biggest questions,
00:07:54 --> 00:07:56 from the Moon's volcanic history to space
00:07:56 --> 00:07:59 weather. It doesn't change NASA's plan
00:07:59 --> 00:08:02 for 2028, but it's a useful
00:08:02 --> 00:08:05 reminder that the South Pole is one answer to
00:08:05 --> 00:08:08 where we should go, not the only one.
00:08:08 --> 00:08:11 Anna: We'd usually find you an Australian thread
00:08:11 --> 00:08:14 here, and honestly there isn't one
00:08:14 --> 00:08:17 in this mission. Artemis 3 never leaves low
00:08:17 --> 00:08:18 Earth orbit.
00:08:18 --> 00:08:21 The European angle is real because Orion's
00:08:21 --> 00:08:23 service module is European, built by Airbus.
00:08:23 --> 00:08:26 But we're not going to manufacture a local
00:08:26 --> 00:08:28 hook for a test flight that's all about
00:08:28 --> 00:08:29 Florida.
00:08:29 --> 00:08:32 Avery: What we can say is that if all of this works,
00:08:32 --> 00:08:34 the 2028 landing is when the Moon
00:08:34 --> 00:08:37 itself becomes a story again. And
00:08:37 --> 00:08:39 that's a story every one of you can step
00:08:39 --> 00:08:42 outside and look at. Speaking of which,
00:08:42 --> 00:08:44 it's nearly full tonight.
00:08:44 --> 00:08:47 Anna: Time for the week. That was five episodes
00:08:47 --> 00:08:49 Monday to Friday. And here's one thing from
00:08:49 --> 00:08:52 each Monday was launch day for Japan's
00:08:52 --> 00:08:54 Martian moons exploration mission.
00:08:54 --> 00:08:57 MMX is heading for Phobos, the larger of
00:08:57 --> 00:09:00 Mars. Two moons to land, scoop up at
00:09:00 --> 00:09:02 least 10 grammes of surface and bring it
00:09:02 --> 00:09:02 home.
00:09:03 --> 00:09:04 The capsule is due to come down in South
00:09:04 --> 00:09:07 Australia in 2031. The third
00:09:07 --> 00:09:09 Japanese sample returned to land in the
00:09:09 --> 00:09:11 outback after the two Hayabusas
00:09:12 --> 00:09:14 Avery: and um, the update since Monday.
00:09:14 --> 00:09:17 JAXA says the spacecraft is in good health
00:09:17 --> 00:09:19 and the team is working through its
00:09:19 --> 00:09:22 functional checks. The question it's
00:09:22 --> 00:09:24 chasing is still the one we laid out is
00:09:24 --> 00:09:27 Phobos A, uh, captured asteroid or
00:09:27 --> 00:09:29 debris from a giant impact on Mars.
00:09:30 --> 00:09:33 Anna: Tuesday the moon kept shrinking.
00:09:33 --> 00:09:36 Tom Waters and colleagues in the Planetary
00:09:36 --> 00:09:39 Science Journal catalogued more than 10
00:09:39 --> 00:09:42 young thrust faults, the little cliffs that
00:09:42 --> 00:09:45 form as the interior cools and the crust
00:09:45 --> 00:09:48 squeezes in. Their estimate is that
00:09:48 --> 00:09:50 the moon's radius has dropped by roughly
00:09:50 --> 00:09:52 42 to 46 metres.
00:09:53 --> 00:09:56 Avery: Small in kilometres, but big for anyone
00:09:56 --> 00:09:58 planning a base. Those faults can still slip
00:09:58 --> 00:10:01 and some of them sit near the regions Artemis
00:10:01 --> 00:10:04 Anna: wants to land in our
00:10:04 --> 00:10:06 own galaxy. A team at the
00:10:06 --> 00:10:09 Instituto de Astrophysica de Canarias,
00:10:09 --> 00:10:12 using stellar ages and Gaia data
00:10:12 --> 00:10:15 found the Milky Way's disc formed in two
00:10:15 --> 00:10:17 distinct stages with a turning point
00:10:17 --> 00:10:20 about 10.8 billion years ago.
00:10:20 --> 00:10:23 Born thick, settled, thin,
00:10:23 --> 00:10:25 it's an upside down picture compared with the
00:10:25 --> 00:10:28 old idea of a thin disc that slowly puffed
00:10:28 --> 00:10:29 up.
00:10:29 --> 00:10:32 Avery: Thursday, a solar radiation storm
00:10:32 --> 00:10:35 measured from the ground up on the 11th
00:10:35 --> 00:10:37 of November last year. Ground level
00:10:37 --> 00:10:39 enhancement 77.
00:10:39 --> 00:10:42 A team from Surrey, the Met Office and the
00:10:42 --> 00:10:44 Dutch Weather Service had a radiosonde
00:10:44 --> 00:10:47 balloon from Lerwick in Shetland climb right
00:10:47 --> 00:10:50 through it. Radiation readings exceeded the
00:10:50 --> 00:10:52 Aviation Authority's moderate threshold at
00:10:52 --> 00:10:55 business jet altitudes and um, were twice,
00:10:55 --> 00:10:57 twice the severe threshold at supersonic
00:10:57 --> 00:10:58 altitudes.
00:10:58 --> 00:11:01 Anna: And their estimate for a London to New York
00:11:01 --> 00:11:03 flight on that day was a dose
00:11:04 --> 00:11:06 about 42.6% higher than normal.
00:11:07 --> 00:11:10 That's the figure in the paper. The Press
00:11:10 --> 00:11:12 release said 46 and we
00:11:12 --> 00:11:15 Avery: went with the paper and on Friday
00:11:15 --> 00:11:18 Anna: and Friday, your producer's pick. A uh,
00:11:18 --> 00:11:21 Korean team argued in scientific reports
00:11:21 --> 00:11:24 that the starry night shows the real pre dawn
00:11:24 --> 00:11:27 sky over Sam Raimi in late July. July
00:11:27 --> 00:11:30 1889. A waning crescent
00:11:30 --> 00:11:32 moon, Venus and the Hyades star
00:11:32 --> 00:11:33 cluster.
00:11:33 --> 00:11:35 We also gave you the critique from Donald
00:11:35 --> 00:11:38 Olson at Texas State and we noted
00:11:38 --> 00:11:40 that one of the research groups has a
00:11:40 --> 00:11:43 disclosed competing interest. A Lovely
00:11:43 --> 00:11:45 idea held at arm's length.
00:11:46 --> 00:11:48 Avery: A few more from the week quickly. On
00:11:48 --> 00:11:51 Monday, more than half of the mirror segments
00:11:51 --> 00:11:53 for the Extremely Large Telescope had reached
00:11:53 --> 00:11:56 Chile. On Thursday, a
00:11:56 --> 00:11:58 Marsquake under Valles Marineris turned out
00:11:58 --> 00:12:01 to be a strike slip rupture, 20 to 40
00:12:01 --> 00:12:04 kilometres long, evidence the Great
00:12:04 --> 00:12:06 Canyon is still tectonically active.
00:12:06 --> 00:12:09 And on Friday, the Roman Space Telescope
00:12:09 --> 00:12:12 moved into science, commissioning the final
00:12:12 --> 00:12:13 phase before its surveys begin.
00:12:14 --> 00:12:16 Anna: Roman Reuben the
00:12:16 --> 00:12:19 ELT It's a good time
00:12:19 --> 00:12:22 to be watching big new telescopes come to
00:12:22 --> 00:12:24 life now.
00:12:24 --> 00:12:26 Avery: A, uh, farewell. Back in September, listeners
00:12:26 --> 00:12:29 wrote in through the website asking what had
00:12:29 --> 00:12:31 happened to the mission sent to rescue NASA's
00:12:31 --> 00:12:34 Swift Observatory. That's how the link story
00:12:34 --> 00:12:35 got onto the show.
00:12:36 --> 00:12:39 Anna: Link never managed to capture Swift and
00:12:39 --> 00:12:41 it re entered. On 25 September,
00:12:41 --> 00:12:44 Swift went back to doing science, observing
00:12:44 --> 00:12:47 hundreds of targets, from supernova remnants
00:12:47 --> 00:12:50 to distant black holes to comets.
00:12:50 --> 00:12:53 But pointing at targets rather than holding
00:12:53 --> 00:12:55 its lowest drag attitude meant
00:12:55 --> 00:12:57 it sank faster.
00:12:57 --> 00:13:00 Avery: On Tuesday the 20th, Swift
00:13:00 --> 00:13:02 reached 275 kilometres.
00:13:03 --> 00:13:05 At that point, it could no longer compensate
00:13:05 --> 00:13:08 for the drag and dropped into safe mode.
00:13:08 --> 00:13:10 And the operations team at Penn State sent a
00:13:10 --> 00:13:12 command that effectively ended the mission.
00:13:13 --> 00:13:16 NASA confirmed it yesterday. Reentry is
00:13:16 --> 00:13:17 expected in the next few weeks.
00:13:18 --> 00:13:21 Anna: NASA hasn't published a reentry date or a,
00:13:21 --> 00:13:23 uh, location and, um, we won't guess it
00:13:23 --> 00:13:26 either. What we will say is that Swift
00:13:26 --> 00:13:29 launched in November 2004 and for
00:13:29 --> 00:13:31 nearly 22 years it was the observatory
00:13:32 --> 00:13:34 that turned within a minute or two to catch a
00:13:34 --> 00:13:36 gamma ray burst while it was still happening.
00:13:37 --> 00:13:38 So thank you, Swift.
00:13:39 --> 00:13:42 Avery: And one last arc. Harris
00:13:42 --> 00:13:44 second braking burn, about 31 minutes long,
00:13:45 --> 00:13:47 was due on Thursday. We're still waiting for
00:13:47 --> 00:13:50 ESA's confirmation and we'll bring it to you
00:13:50 --> 00:13:53 as soon as we have it. Arrival at Didymos is
00:13:53 --> 00:13:55 due in November with the first signal after
00:13:55 --> 00:13:58 each burn picked up through ESA's Deep Space
00:13:58 --> 00:14:00 Antenna at New Norca, uh, in Western
00:14:00 --> 00:14:00 Australia.
00:14:02 --> 00:14:04 Anna: Moving on to today's skywatch,
00:14:04 --> 00:14:05 let's look
00:14:05 --> 00:14:08 Avery: up and we start with something you won't
00:14:08 --> 00:14:10 be able to see at all, which is the point.
00:14:11 --> 00:14:14 Today, Venus reaches inferior conjunction.
00:14:14 --> 00:14:17 It passes between us and the sun, coming
00:14:17 --> 00:14:19 within about six and a half degrees of it
00:14:19 --> 00:14:22 around two in the afternoon Universal Time.
00:14:22 --> 00:14:23 That's one in the morning.
00:14:23 --> 00:14:26 Sunday in Sydney and Saturday morning in the
00:14:26 --> 00:14:27 Americas.
00:14:27 --> 00:14:30 Anna: Which means the brilliant evening star
00:14:30 --> 00:14:33 of the last few months is gone from the
00:14:33 --> 00:14:35 evening sky. And over the next couple of
00:14:35 --> 00:14:38 weeks it reappears in the east before
00:14:38 --> 00:14:41 dawn as the morning star. Same
00:14:41 --> 00:14:43 planet other side of the sun.
00:14:43 --> 00:14:46 Avery: And please don't go hunting for it near the
00:14:46 --> 00:14:48 sun with binoculars or a telescope.
00:14:48 --> 00:14:51 6.5 degrees is a hand's width at
00:14:51 --> 00:14:54 arm's length. Never point any optics
00:14:54 --> 00:14:56 anywhere near the sun. And if you ever do
00:14:56 --> 00:14:59 want to look at the sun itself, use only a
00:14:59 --> 00:15:00 filter Certified to the ISO
00:15:00 --> 00:15:03 123122 standard,
00:15:03 --> 00:15:05 fitted properly over the front of the
00:15:05 --> 00:15:08 instrument, never improvised, and never
00:15:08 --> 00:15:10 sunglasses down south.
00:15:10 --> 00:15:13 Anna: Mercury is your evening planet this week.
00:15:13 --> 00:15:16 From Sydney, it's about 14 degrees up in the
00:15:16 --> 00:15:19 west at the end of civil twilight, around
00:15:19 --> 00:15:22 20 to 8 in the evening and shining at about
00:15:22 --> 00:15:23 magnitude 0.8.
00:15:24 --> 00:15:27 Look low in the west southwest after
00:15:27 --> 00:15:27 sunset.
00:15:28 --> 00:15:31 Avery: Northern listeners, I'm sorry, this one's
00:15:31 --> 00:15:34 ours. From Los Angeles, it's only about 3
00:15:34 --> 00:15:36 degrees up at the same stage of twilight.
00:15:37 --> 00:15:40 From New York, about one. And from London,
00:15:40 --> 00:15:42 it's already below the horizon and it
00:15:42 --> 00:15:43 fades fast.
00:15:43 --> 00:15:46 So by Halloween, it's gone for everyone.
00:15:46 --> 00:15:49 Anna: Anay, uh, wherever you are, the Moon is
00:15:49 --> 00:15:52 almost full and Saturn is nearby.
00:15:53 --> 00:15:56 At 09:00 local time, the gap is about 6 and
00:15:56 --> 00:15:58 a half degrees from Sydney, about
00:15:58 --> 00:16:01 7 from London, and 9 to 11 from the
00:16:01 --> 00:16:04 Americas, with Saturn 30 to 45
00:16:04 --> 00:16:07 degrees up everywhere. Saturn is the
00:16:07 --> 00:16:09 steady, slightly golden point next to the
00:16:09 --> 00:16:09 Moon.
00:16:10 --> 00:16:12 Avery: The Moon is full on Monday at
00:16:12 --> 00:16:15 4:11 Universal Time M, which is
00:16:15 --> 00:16:17 quarter past three on Monday afternoon in
00:16:17 --> 00:16:20 Sydney, just after nine on Sunday
00:16:20 --> 00:16:23 evening in Los Angeles and just after
00:16:23 --> 00:16:24 midnight Monday in New York.
00:16:25 --> 00:16:27 Up north, that's the Hunter's moon
00:16:28 --> 00:16:28 and
00:16:28 --> 00:16:31 Anna: you may remember our anti harvest Moon
00:16:31 --> 00:16:34 from September. Same geometry, same
00:16:34 --> 00:16:37 result. On the nights around this full moon,
00:16:37 --> 00:16:40 the Moon rises only about 20 to 25
00:16:40 --> 00:16:42 minutes later each night. From London, 30 to
00:16:42 --> 00:16:45 40 from New York, around 40 from Los
00:16:45 --> 00:16:45 Angeles.
00:16:46 --> 00:16:49 From Sydney, it's more than 70 minutes later
00:16:49 --> 00:16:52 each night. So the north gets a run
00:16:52 --> 00:16:54 of bright early evening moonrises for the
00:16:54 --> 00:16:57 hunters and we get the ordinary version.
00:16:57 --> 00:17:00 Avery: And here's the North's reward. Before
00:17:00 --> 00:17:03 dawn, Jupiter and Mars are closing in on each
00:17:03 --> 00:17:05 other. They're about 9 degrees apart this
00:17:05 --> 00:17:08 morning and about 6 by the end of the month
00:17:08 --> 00:17:09 at nautical dawn.
00:17:09 --> 00:17:12 From Los Angeles or New York, Jupiter is more
00:17:12 --> 00:17:15 than 50 degrees up, with Mars higher still.
00:17:15 --> 00:17:18 From Sydney, they're only around 22 to
00:17:18 --> 00:17:21 25 degrees up. Jupiter is the bright one,
00:17:21 --> 00:17:24 magnitude minus 1.8. Mars is
00:17:24 --> 00:17:26 fainter and reddish.
00:17:26 --> 00:17:29 Anna: Finally, a housekeeping note for our British
00:17:29 --> 00:17:29 listeners.
00:17:29 --> 00:17:32 Your clocks go back an hour early tomorrow
00:17:32 --> 00:17:35 morning, Sunday the 25th, as British Summer
00:17:35 --> 00:17:37 time ends in the United States. That's
00:17:37 --> 00:17:40 next. Sunday, the 1st of November, you're in
00:17:40 --> 00:17:42 Sydney. We're staying on daylight time until
00:17:42 --> 00:17:45 April, so for one week, the gaps between us
00:17:45 --> 00:17:47 all shift around. Check your meeting times.
00:17:48 --> 00:17:51 Avery: That's the weekend wrap. NASA has its
00:17:51 --> 00:17:53 rehearsal planned. Two landers are
00:17:53 --> 00:17:56 auditioning for the Moon, and Swift has taken
00:17:56 --> 00:17:57 its final bow.
00:17:58 --> 00:18:00 Anna: If there's a story you want us to chase the
00:18:00 --> 00:18:02 way you chased Swift, write to us through the
00:18:02 --> 00:18:05 contact form@astronomydaily.IO you
00:18:05 --> 00:18:08 can also find every episode there. And we're
00:18:08 --> 00:18:10 AstroDaily Pod on social media.
00:18:10 --> 00:18:12 Avery: We're back on Monday with a fresh week of
00:18:12 --> 00:18:14 space and astronomy news. I'm Avery.
00:18:15 --> 00:18:17 Anna: And I'm Amma. Clear Skives.