The glories of October’s night sky can at best be described as ‘Subtle’. The dull autumn constellations are already being challenged by the brilliant lights of winter. Spearheaded by the beautiful star cluster of the Pleiades.
Ursa Major, or the Plough, is to all intents and purposes at its lowest in the North. The ‘W’ of Cassiopeia is not far from the overhead point.
The summer triangle of Altair, Deneb and Vega remains high up. The barren square of Pegasus dominates the southern sky, with Andromeda attached it its side. The bright star Capella in the constellation of Auriga the Charioteer is becoming more noticeable in the east. It will be overhead in winter evenings.
Although the four stars that form the Square of Pegasus are not the brightest, once found they will be easily recognised again. If you use the two right hand stars of the square and draw a line to the south you will reach a bright star very low in the sky. This star is Fomalhaut, in the constellation of Piscis Austrinus, the Southern Fish.
The Planets
Saturn lies in Capricornus. Shinning at magnitude +0.6 Saturn falls below the horizon around 1.30am.
The ring world is followed by Neptune, which sets about 4.30am. Located on the border of Aquarius and Pisces, the most distant planet glows at a dim magnitude of +7.8.
Both are outclassed by brilliant Jupiter, at a magnificent magnitude of –2.9 it’s the brightest object in the night sky, bar the Moon. The gas giant can be found in Pisces, sinking below the horizon around 5.30am.
Uranus at magnitude +5.7 can be found in Aries, and it rises around 7pm.
Mars this month is located between the horns of Taurus the bull to the left of Aldebaran. The red planet rises above the horizon around 8.30pm. It brightens considerably from magnitude –0.6 to -1.2 as the Earth and Mars draw closer together.
This month will feature the best morning appearance of Mercury the year. The innermost planet lies low on the eastern horizon during the middle of this month. Mercury reaches its greatest separation from the Sun on 8th October, when it shines at magnitude -0.4. It will however best be seen a week or so later when it brightens to magnitude –1.0.
Venus is too close to the Sun for observation this month.
Highlights for this month
5th October – Saturn lies above the half Moon.
8th October – The almost full Moon passes under bright Jupiter.
12th to 14th October – The waning Moon passes in turn the Pleiades, Aldebaran and Mars.
24th October – Before dawn breaks, Mercury lies below the crescent Moon.
25th October – Europe, north east Africa and the Middle East experience a partial eclipse of the Sun. From northern England, the eclipse begins just after 10am and ends about 11.45am. At maximum just before 11am, about 15 % of the Sun is covered.
30th October – at 2am British Summer Time ends as the clocks go backwards by an hour.
Meteor showers
There are two meteor showers this month
The Orionid Meteor Shower peaks in the late night of 21st October and early morning of 22nd October. It will be a dark sky until the Moon rises around 3.30am. You may see up to 20 meteors per hour. Even though the ‘shooting stars’ are relatively faint, they do leave persistent trains of ionised gas.
In addition, as the radiant occurs near the Constellation of Orion, which rises from 10.45pm, you may see rare Earth Grazers. Meteors skim the surface of our atmosphere like a flat stone travelling over the surface of water. From the low position on the horizon, they travel horizontally overhead, which is why they appear long and bright.
On 30th and 31st look out for ‘Halloween fireballs’, brilliant meteors from Encke’s Comet called the Taurids. They reach their peak next month.
Phases of the Moon:-
First quarter 3rd October
Full Moon 9th October
Last quarter 17th October
New Moon 25th October