The moon is just past full as the month begins, and a couple of planets are nearby – Oct. 1 Jupiter is three degrees south, and Oct. 2 Uranus is also three degrees south. The difficulty in seeing will be the overwhelming bright disk of the moon.
Late in the evening of Oct. 2, the moon is just south of the Pleiades (M45), 1.1 degrees; Oct. 7, Pollux is 1.4 degrees north. Oct. 10 sees the bright planet Venus in the early morning eastern sky six degrees south of a very thin crescent Luna.
The moon is new Oct. 15, bringing on the autumn eclipse season. The first event is an annular solar eclipse, where the moon doesn’t completely cover the sun, so an annulus (ring) appears around the edge. This occurs because the moon is at apogee a few days earlier – the furthest away in its orbit, and thus appears smaller than average. The eclipse will be visible throughout the Western Hemisphere.
Oct. 15, Mars is right beside the moon, but the very thin crescent less than a day after new phase will be all but invisible. By Oct. 18, the moon is 0.8 degrees north of Antares. Oct. 24, Saturn is three degrees north; Neptune is 1.5 degrees north Oct. 25.
The moon is full Oct. 28, bringing on the eclipse (they are 14 days apart, of course–half a month). This one is only visible in the Eastern Hemisphere. Oct. 29 sees Jupiter and Uranus again three degrees south and the month closes with the Pleiades 1.1 degrees north of our satellite.
Mercury is all but invisible in the bright morning twilight, then too close to the sun to be seen.
Venus is high in the southeast before sunrise, shining as the “Morning Star.” The crescent moon glides by Oct. 10, split by Regulus, the bright star in Leo, The Lion. Venus is at greatest elongation west Oct. 23, then slowly begins backing away to its journey behind the sun in the coming months.
Mars is too close to the sun to be visible.
Jupiter is approaching its brightest and apparent largest, so dominates the sky all throughout the night. We see the moon and Uranus nearby twice in October (see the moon description above).
Saturn is high in the night sky throughout, giving telescope viewers a splendid opportunity to check out the Ringed Planet. How many of its moons can you pick out in the black backdrop? There should be at least five visible at any time.
Uranus is among the stars of Aries; Jupiter is nearby and both are joined by the moon twice in the month (see the moon above).
Neptune is just past opposition and visible with optical aid most of the night.
The zodiacal light is visible before eastern morning twilight for the middle two weeks of October.
James Edgar has had an interest in the night sky all his life. He joined the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada in 2000, was national president for two terms, is now the editor of the Observer’s Handbook, and production manager of the bi-monthly RASC Journal. The IAU named asteroid 1995 XC5 “(22421) Jamesedgar” in his honour and in 2021 he was awarded a Fellowship of the RASC.
