Saturn and Jupiter will both be visible in the night sky in October.
Saturn will be visible about 15 degrees above the Eastern horizon right after sundown. It doesn’t set until 6:09 a.m., so you can pretty much watch it all night long!
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest. Currently, Saturn’s about 795 million miles away from us. It has a visual magnitude of +0.6. That makes it easy to spot with the unaided eye. But if you want to see its rings, you’ll need a decent pair of binoculars or a telescope, as you can see from my photograph.
Saturn is mostly composed of liquid hydrogen and helium. It is believed to have a small rock core at its center. Saturn has a diameter of nearly 75 thousand miles, making it about 9 1/2 times wider than Earth. That might not sound like a lot, but when you do the math, you can fit about 764 Earth-sized spheres into Saturn.
This is Jupiter:
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest. It has a diameter of 87 thousand miles and could hold 1,300 Earth-sized spheres inside of it. Jupiter is about 484 million miles from us and has a visual magnitude of -2.2. That means the only objects in the night sky that are brighter than Jupiter are Venus and our Moon.
What you can look for in October’s Night Skies
Neptune appears to be slightly north of Saturn on a sky map. But in reality, it’s well beyond the ringed planet. If you want to see Neptune, you’ll need a very good pair of binoculars or a telescope.
M31, the Andromeda Galaxy might be visible to the unaided eye if we get some calm, clear nights. It starts the month about 30 degrees above the ENE horizon right after sundown, but I wouldn’t try looking for it until about an hour after sundown.
There are two major meteor showers in October. The Orionids start to get active on the morning of October 3. It peaks on the night of October 20, but you might be able to see some shooting stars from it as early as October 3, starting around 1:00 a.m. As the name implies, simply look for the constellation Orion just above the Eastern horizon.
The Southern Taurids will peak in November, but you might see a few shooting stars any time M45, the Pleiades, are visible. The Pleiades are pretty close to the center of Taurus and will also seem to be the central point of the meteor showers.
Moon Phases:
Full Moon is October 6
Last Quarter is October 13
New Moon is October 21
1st Quarter is October 29
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