Links and Resources
General Links and Resources
US Forest Service - Olympic Nat'l forest
http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/olympic/.
Wa Dept of Fish and Wildlife Weekender report
http://wdfw.wa.gov/do/weekendr/weekendr.htm (updated regularly)
Wa Dept of Fish and Wildlife Clamming and Shellfish Regulations FAQ
http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/shelfish/beachreg/faqs.htm
National Park Service - Olympic Nat'l Park
Fishing Regulations
Fishing and Rainforest Guide Service
http://www.rainforestguide.net/
Quinault Indian Nation
Climate and Rainforest Information
Temperate Rainforests of the Northern Pacific Coast
http://www.groundtruthtrekking.org/Forests.php
Rainforest atlas
http://www.inforain.org/rainforestatlas/index.html
Trail Conditions
National Parks Service Trail Conditions
http://www.nps.gov/olym/planyourvisit/wilderness-trail-conditions.htm
Forest Service Trail & Campground Conditions
http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/olympic/conditions/quin.shtml
Sky watching podcasts
SkyandTelescope.com - Astronomy and Stargazing Podcasts
S&T's Audio Sky Tour for October 2011
This is a month of transition: you can spot the Summer Triangle overhead as darkness falls and the winter mix of Orion, his dogs, and Taurus in the hours before sunrise. Jupiter peaks in brightness this month, and it dominates the sky from dusk until dawn.
The night sky this month
Northern Hemisphere
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the northern hemisphere night sky during October 2011.
The Cygnus Rift, a dark band of dust in the Milky Way, can be seen cutting through the Summer Triangle made up of the stars Deneb, Vega and Altair. Brocchi's Cluster lies between Altair and Vega. In a dark sky, the constellation of Delphinus, the Dolphin, can be seen below and left of Cygnus the Swan, with the tiny constellation of Sagitta, the Arrow, above it. The planetary nebula known as the Dumbbell Nebula can be seen through binoculars or a small telescope above the tip of the Arrow. The Square of Pegasus is to the east, from which the Andromeda Galaxy can be located with binoculars or, if it is very dark, with the naked eye. The Triangulum Galaxy can also found nearby using binoculars. Further east, Taurus rises late in the evening, containing the Pleiades Cluster. The Double Cluster can be seen with the naked eye in Perseus, below the 'w' of Cassiopeia which sits almost overhead. Two distinct star clusters can be made out with binoculars. Orion the Hunter rises after midnight BST (British Summer Time, one hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time), allowing the Orion Nebula to be seen below his famous Belt.
The Planets
- Jupiter is visible all night by month's end, reaching opposition (the opposite side of the Earth to the Sun) on the 29th. At a maximum elevation of 47°, it is higher than it has been for several years, reducing atmospheric scintillation and improving the resolution with which detail can be discerned through a telescope. It also has an angular diameter of 50", which is near its largest possible apparent size, because it was recently at perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) as well as this month coming to opposition and therefore close to the Earth. The Equatorial Belts can be seen through a telescope, as can the Great Red Spot at certain times.
- Saturn and Mercury are not visible. Saturn passes behind the Sun (superior conjunction) on the 18th, and will reappear before dawn in about a month. Mercury reached superior conjunction on the 28th of September and so is also washed out by the Sun's glare.
- Mars moves from near the Beehive Cluster in Cancer down into Leo during the month, rising around 1am BST. With an angular size of 5.2", surface details can only be seen through a telescope under good seeing conditions. Itt will reach an angular size of over 10" early in the new year, allowing its features to be resolved much more clearly.
- Venus is still near the far side of the Sun from the Earth's viewpoint, so its disc is 94% illuminated but it appears relatively small at 10" across. It is briefly visible very low in the south-west just after sunset due to its bright magnitude of -3.9, but you may require binoculars to spot it (remember never to point binoculars or telescopes anywhere near the Sun).
Highlights
- The peak of the Draconid meteor shower is visible around the constellation of Draco, low in the north-west from around 8pm to 10pm GMT on the 8th. It is caused by dust particles from the tail of comet Giacobini-Zinner entering the Earth's atmosphere. As the dust is not yet evenly distributed around the comet's orbit, the shower is more intense approximately every 13 years, when the comet is closest to the Earth. The intensity is unpredictable, and this year's shower may be spectacular.
- The Orionid meteor shower peaks on the 21st and is visible late at night for a few nights either side of this, around the constellation of Orion. The dust causing the shower is believed to come from comet Halley. The Moon may hamper meteor sightings, but some should still be visible in the south before dawn.
- Uranus and Neptune can be observed without the glare of the Moon from the 24th to 28th, the former in Pisces and the latter in Aquarius.
Southern Hemisphere
John Field from the Carter Observatory in New Zealand speaks about the southern hemisphere night sky during October 2011.
The constellations of Scorpius and Sagittarius lie in the west. The planets Mercury and Venus are below them, appearing close together at sunset at the end of the month. In a dark sky, the Zodiacal Light may be visible after twilight as a faint, broad column of light. It is the reflection of sunlight off meteoric dust in the plane of the Solar System, hence its presence in the zodiacal constellations through which the ecliptic plane passes. Jupiter rises in the east after sunset and is high in the northern sky by midnight. The planet's four largest moons can be seen through binoculars or a telescope, and move from night to night, sometimes disappearing behind or in front of their host. Canopus is the brightest star in the evening sky this month, climbing in the south as the evening progresses. It is later outshone by the brightest of all night-time stars in our sky, Sirius, which rises in the east after midnight. While Sirius is much closer to us than Canopus, Canopus is intrinsically far more luminous, shining some 13,000 more intensely than our Sun. The third-brightest star in the sky, Alpha Centauri, will also be visible, near the Milky Way. The constellation of Crux, the Southern Cross, skirts the southern horizon from west to east during the night but does not set, while the four stars forming the Great Square of Pegasus rise and move across the northern sky from east to west before setting again. The triple star Epsilon Pegasi is not in the Square but is the brightest star of the Pegasus constellation, and consists of a yellow supergiant at magnitude +2.9 (visible with the naked eye), a blue companion at magnitude +8 (visible using binoculars) and a further companion at magnitude +11 (visible through a telescope). Nearby is the globular cluster M15 at magnitude +6, with a bright centre and fainter rays scattering from its core. A larger telescope reveals a planetary nebula within the cluster. The constellation of Cetus, the Whale, is near to Aquarius, the Water Carrier, and Eridanus, the River. It is near to the edge of the ecliptic plane and planets sometimes move briefly through it. The asteroid Vesta was discovered there in 1807. Alpha Ceti, or Menkar (the Nose), is a red giant star of magnitude +2.5. Binoculars show an unconnected blue star of magnitude +5.6 nearby. Beta Ceti, or Deneb Kaitos (the Whale's Tail), is the constellation's brightest star, a yellow giant of magnitude +2.0. Gamma Ceti, or Kaffaljidhma, is a double star comprising individual stars of magnitudes +3.7 and +6.4. Omicron Ceti, or Mira, is a red star whose variable brightness was recognised by the Dutch astronomer David Fabricius in 1596. It swells and contracts with a period of between 320 and 370 days, giving it a magnitude range of +3 to +9. To the naked eye, this makes it appear and disappear over the course of a year. The flare star UV Ceti is a red dwarf star which undergoes sudden increases in brightness lasting only a few minutes, taking it from magnitude +13 to +7. Tau Ceti, at 11 light-years away, is the closest Sun-like star to our Solar System. It has a debris disc which may one day coalesce into planets.
The Guestbook
"No fish today! Saw a bear on their way to Kalaloch, and an otter frolicking outside of this wonderful cabin!"
