October 14
The Flattened River
Sun Position
The Sun is in Libra near -10° declination. The Southern Hemisphere is approaching the same length of afternoon that the Northern Hemisphere had near the equinox; the seasons are exchanging hours.
Sky Highlight
Mid-October is well-suited for tracing the constellation Eridanus (the celestial river) as it begins to climb in the eastern sky after dark. Eridanus is one of the sky's longest constellations, stretching from near Orion's foot in the north all the way south to Achernar, visible only from southern latitudes.
Deep Sky Object
NGC 1300, a barred spiral galaxy about 69 million light-years away. NGC 1300 in Eridanus is one of the most visually striking barred spiral galaxies accessible to amateur telescopes, its two main spiral arms emerge from the ends of a prominent bar structure and curl outward symmetrically, making it a textbook example of the type. Better placed for Southern Hemisphere and low northern latitudes, though accessible to mid-northern observers under dark skies.
Featured Star
Achernar (α Eri) is a main-sequence B-type star (B6Vep) 139 light-years away, rotating so rapidly that it bulges at its equator, measurements show it is about 56% wider at the equator than at the poles, making it the most oblate well-measured star known. It is the ninth-brightest star in the sky. Achernar, the river's end, a star too fast to be round.
Around This Date
- October 14, 1947Charles 'Chuck' Yeager piloted the Bell X-1 to Mach 1.06, becoming the first person confirmed to fly faster than sound in level flight.
- October 15, 1997The Cassini-Huygens probe launched toward Saturn, carrying the Huygens lander that would later descend through Titan's atmosphere and return the first images from its surface.
Achernar sits at the end of the sky's longest river, visible from the Southern Hemisphere where the river actually reaches the horizon.