Best night sky events for October
The moon’s brightness won’t be a bother before midnight after October’s first week, and the sky will be totally moonless mid-month, making for great 8 p.m. and later sky-sessions. Look to the east for the sky’s brightest “star,” Jupiter. For those with telescopes, you can’t beat Saturn, the solitary bright “star” halfway up the southern sky. Those two are so bright, they’ll still be quite visible even if you live near city lights.
Oct. 1 — Conjunction of the moon and Jupiter - Jupiter sits at 2.2° south of the moon at 8:20 p.m. The moon is at a magnitude of -11.6, and Jupiter at a magnitude of -2.8. At this time the moon phase is 90.1%, nearly full but Jupiter’s brightness will make this a nice show.
Oct. 8, 9 - Draconids Meteor Shower — The Draconids is a minor meteor shower producing only about 10 meteors per hour. It is produced by comet 21P Giacobini-Zinner, which was first discovered in 1900. The Draconids is an unusual shower in that the best viewing is in the early evening instead of early morning like most other showers. The shower peaks this year on the night of the 8th and morning of the 9th. Best viewing will be in the early evening from a dark location far away from city lights. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Draco, but can appear anywhere in the sky.
Oct. 14 - New Moon — The moon will be located on the same side of the Earth as the sun and will not be visible in the night sky. This phase occurs at 17:56 UTC. This is the best time of the month to observe faint objects such as galaxies and star clusters because there is no moonlight to interfere.
Oct. 14 — Annular Solar Eclipse — An annular solar eclipse occurs when the new moon is too far away from the Earth to completely cover the sun. This results in a ring of light around the darkened moon. The sun's corona is not visible during an annular eclipse. The eclipse path will begin in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of southern Canada and move across the southwestern United States and Central America, Columbia and Brazil. A partial eclipse will be visible throughout much of North America. Here in CDA we will see about 74% of the sun covered by the moon. Greatest eclipse will occur at 9:24 a.m.
See this website for everything about this eclipse. https://www.greatamericaneclipse.com/october-14-2023
This website has an interactive map. http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/ASE_2023_GoogleMapFull.html
Oct. 20, 21 — Orionids Meteor Shower — The Orionids shower produces up to 20 meteors per hour at its peak. It is produced by the famous comet Halley, which has been known and observed since ancient times. It peaks this year on the night of Oct. 20 and the morning of Oct. 21. The first quarter moon may block some of the dim meteors in the evening, but it will set shortly after midnight. This will leave dark skies for what could be a good morning show. Best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Orion, but can appear anywhere in the sky.
Oct. 28 — Full Moon — The moon will be located on the opposite side of the Earth as the sun and its face will be fully illuminated. This phase occurs at 20:25 UTC. This full moon was known by early Native American tribes as the Hunters Moon because at this time of year the leaves are falling and the game is fat and ready to hunt. This moon has also been known as the Travel Moon and the Blood Moon.
Oct. 31 — Halloween! — This Halloween, the moon will be 90% illuminated, very near full! This should help you keep a little better track of your sugar-fueled little ones.
John Taylor is an amateur astronomer who lives in Hayden.
