The purpose of this feature is to give scout leaders, educators and naturalists an idea of some of the natural events coming up each month.  We will try to cover a variety of natural events ranging from sky events to calling periods of amphibians, bird and mammal watching tips,  prominent wildflowers and anything else that comes to mind.  We will also note prominent constellations appearing over the eastern horizon at mid-evening each month for our area for those who would like to learn the constellations.  If you have suggestions for other types of natural information you would like to see added to this calendar, let us know!

Note: You can click on the hyperlinks to learn more about some of the featured items.  To return to the Calendar, hit the "back" button on your browser, NOT the "back" button on the web page.  All charts are available in a "printer friendly" mode, with black stars on a white background.  Left clicking on each chart will take you to a printable black and white image.  Please note that images on these pages are meant to be displayed at 100%.  If your browser zooms into a higher magnification than that, the images may lose quality.

Though we link book references to nationwide sources, we encourage you to support your local book store whenever possible.

Notes and Images From September 2014

Last month I spent some time documenting the removal of Brown's Mill dam on the East Fork of the Stones River.  In between shots of the work being done I looked for wildlife around the site.  The image at right is a young Eastern Kingsnake, Lampropeltis getula. 

I also took a couple of astro images in September, but both data sets are quite large and I don't expect to put the images up until later this month or in the November Natural Calendar.  One image is the Helix Nebula, a ghostly planetary nebula in Aquarius, and the other is a beautiful edge-on galaxy in Andromeda, NGC 891.

Sky Events for October 2014:

A total eclipse of the Moon occurs in the predawn and dawn hours of October 8th.  This is an interesting one, with the Moon in full eclipse very low to the western horizon.  This could be a good photo opportunity.  Mid-eclipse is 5:55am CST, and for Middle Tennessee the Moon at that time is only about 10 degrees above the horizon at a bearing of 269 degrees, or almost due west.  For more information on the eclipse, see the Sky and Telescope article here.  The planet Uranus is within a couple of lunar diameters of the eclipsed Moon, and you can look at a finder chart at the above link.

A partial solar eclipse occurs in the afternoon on October 23rd.  The time of maximum eclipse is around sunset, so again, it could be a chance to get some interesting photos.  Never look at the Sun without having proper solar filters.  You can do permanent damage to your eyes if you neglect to do this.  An inexpensive solar projection device that can be used on a variety of telescopes is described here.  You can also use a pinhole to project the image, and you can sometimes see naturally-formed pinhole images of the Sun formed by small openings in tree canopies and other natural shades.

Evening Sky: 

Mars is now only about 6 seconds of an arc in apparent diameter.  It begins the month in Ophiuchus and ends the month near the top of the "teapot" in Sagittarius.  The red planet is still near the bright star Antares at the beginning of the month.  Antares translates as "rival of Mars," and this is a good chance to compare the two.

Saturn is very low in the west-southwest after sunset at the beginning of the month, in Libra.  Atmospheric turbulence will tend to blur the view somewhat when it is this close to the horizon.

Morning Sky: 

Jupiter rises about 2:28am CDT in Cancer.  For the best views, observe it close to dawn when it is higher above the horizon. 

Venus slips into the morning twilight early in the month.

Mercury becomes visible in the morning sky around October 24th.  It will rise higher above the eastern horizon each morning after that.  By the 31st it will be about 9 degrees above the  horizon 45 minutes before sunrise.

All times noted in the Sky Events are for Franklin, Tennessee and are Central Daylight Time.  These times should be pretty close anywhere in the mid-state area.

Constellations:  The views below show the sky looking east at 9:30pm CDT on October 15th.  The first view shows the sky with the constellations outlined and labeled.  Star and planet names are in green.  Constellation names are in blue.  The second view shows the same scene without labels.  Prominent constellations include Andromeda, Perseus, Triangulum, the Triangle, Aries, the Ram, and Cetus, the Sea Monster.  Auriga, the Charioteer, with its bright star Capella, and Taurus, the Bull, are rising in the northeast.  The bright star Aldebaran, a red giant representing the eye of the bull, should just be rising.

Above Aldebaran, look for the Pleiades, a beautiful open star cluster.  Also called the "Seven Sisters," it has been known since antiquity.  In Japan it is known as Subaru, and the Subaru automobile is named for this cluster.  Before the Gregorian calendar reform in 1582, the Pleiades culminated around midnight on October 31st, and it has been traditionally associated with Halloween. 

Listen for Southern Leopard Frogs calling during their fall breeding period.  Listen also for Spring Peepers to call from patches of woods.  Upland Chorus Frogs sometimes give a very dry, raspy version of their call in October.  Warm-weather species like treefrogs seldom call now, but you can sometimes find them foraging in trees and shrubs.  You can locate many of the frogs and toads that have been calling more frequently earlier in the year by driving the back roads slowly on rainy nights.  This is a two person job.  One person watches the road for amphibians and one person looks out for other vehicles.  Continue to look for salamander species that breed in the fall, like the Marbled Salamander.

Recommended:  The Frogs and Toads of North America, Lang Elliott, Houghton Mifflin Co.