Week 6 Sky Journal Thea Monje October 15th, 9:45pm Block Island, Rhode Island N 41 9' 57.

00 W 71 33' 32.01

Planet Observations: Saturn

Alt/Az: +27931'28/-3048'54 (geometric) RA/DE: 14h39m46s/-1318'35(of date) Mag: 0.81 (extincted to: 9.21)

Has the position of your planet changed according to the data found in Stellarium?

Saturn is still below the western horizon, northwest of the Sun. The altitude has increased again and the azimuth has decreased again, and the magnitude has also decreased slightly.

Constellation Observations: Andromeda

Estimated Altitude: Definitely higher up this week, altitude seems to be roughly 60. Estimated Azimuth: Using a few different point of reference, the azimuth looks to be between 60 and 110.

Has the estimated location, altitude and azimuth, of your constellation changed or is it the same?

The altitude definitely increased this week, and it was the most visible increase of Andromeda I think I've seen so far. The azimuth moved considerably this week, too. It seems to be around +60 east, and the western half seems to be around 115. I don't even know if it's possibly for a constellation to spread out- maybe I was just reading it a little wider this week? Not totally sure.

Star Observations: Markab

Estimated Altitude: Roughly +60 again. Estimated Azimuth: Roughly +155 to +160. Estimated Magnitude: Not bright because of the moon. Super hard to even find, actually.

Has the estimated location, altitude and azimuth, of your star changed or is it the same?

No and yes again.The altitude of Markab didn't change much again, and I think the azimuth increased, but the moon was so bright it was hard to see.

Has the location of the star changed relative to the background stars in the area? Is it brighter, dimmer, twinkling, a different color, etc.?

Definitely dimmer as a result of the moon.

What trends do you see over time for the planet, constellation and star?

Whereas last week I felt Andromeda slowed down, this week I felt like it sped up. I also seemed to read Andromeda pretty wide, I'm wondering if maybe the stars in the constellation occasionally move

away from one another? Markab was pretty normal, just difficult to see.

Special Focus- Shadow Observation: This week, I decided to keep my eye on the shadow of a flower pot outside to store I work at. I used the compass on my phone to figure out the directions of the shadow. At about 10:30 the shadow was facing the northwest. After a couple hours, the shadow was facing almost direct north. Finally, around three or four o'clock the shadow was facing northeast and it was a lot more stretched out and not as sharp of a shape as it was around noon. I believe the cause of the shadows are the sun (obviously) and the shadows are in the opposite direction of where the Sun is. For example, when the shadow was facing North, the sun was coming from the South.

Additional Notes:

It was really difficult to see my star and constellation this week because most nights it was cloudy this week, and tonight it's much clearer but the moon is really bright! Definitely a tricky night to see things up there, but I'm pretty confident that I was looking at the right stars, at least.