EarthSky News - Oct 13 - Friday the 13th

October 13 Friday the 13th by:

2017 has 2 Friday the 13ths When a common year of 365 days starts on a Sunday, as it did this year, 2 Friday the 13ths are inevitable. The 1st one was in January and the 2nd in October. Peering to the Milky Way's far side Astronomers use parallax to directly measure the distance to a star-forming region on the opposite side of our Milky Way galaxy, nearly doubling the previous distance record. Star of the week: Schedar, heart of a Queen Cassiopeia the Queen is one of the easiest-to-recognize constellations. It has the shape of an M or W. Schedar is the Queen's brightest star. Tonight … Find constellations of the zodiac Constellations of the zodiac that are up after nightfall on these October evenings.

Less than 48 hours left to get EarthSky t-shirts Less than 48 hours to participate in our latest initiative, EarthSky Cares. A percentage of proceeds collected through this sale will be donated to select organizations. Click here to help us make a difference in our world today!

Next few mornings … Moon near Regulus  Watch for the bright star Regulus near the moon in the next few mornings. And notice on this chart ... we're not showing a moon for October 15. That's because, if we did, it'd hide the star Regulus from view. In fact, the moon will hide Regulus from view - seen from much of the U.S., Mexico, the Caribbean and southeast Canada - on Sunday morning.  Read more.

Rainbow with anticrepuscular rays Karl Diefenderfer must have been looking east at sunset on October 9, in order to photograph this rainbow with anticrepuscular rays, caught "as the remnants of hurricane Nate left southeastern Pennsylvania." Submit your photo to EarthSky here!

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