What’s Up in the Night Sky? – October 2019

Oct 03, 2019

by Fred Barrett

Welcome to the best observing time of the year - no bugs, the temperature is reasonable and darkness arrives early enough to haul the kids out to share the observing sights with you.  Midsummer may have a few more spectacular deep sky objects than the rest of the seasons, but a short observing window of 10pm to 2am and breathing bugs sort of messes up the WOW factor.  But October is no slouch when it comes to offering up some visual delights of its own.  The great box of Pegasus, one of the largest constellations in the sky, is front and centre above the southern horizon at about 9pm.  It is a bit more to the East when darkness falls.  It’s an easy hop up from the top left star of the box to find Messier 31 - the spiral galaxy Andromeda.  Actually, that star, Alpheratz or alpha Andromedae, is considered part of the constellation Andromeda.  Don’t ask me why; the International Astronomical Union decided to transfer it from Pegasus to Andromeda.  Andromeda, on a nice clear night, can even be made out with the naked eye.  It will appear as a small, translucent white puff of a cotton ball.  Binoculars will bring out more detail. Refer to the diagram below for a finder chart.  There is also the Triangulum spiral galaxy, M33, and it is roughly an equal distance on the opposite side of Andromeda.  It is off to the right of the bottom star of the constellation Triangulum.  The 3 faint stars that form the narrow triangle of Triangulum are easy to find with binoculars.  The bottom star, alpha Triangulum, is at the apex of the triangle and has the tongue rolling name Rasalmothallah.  There are many more beautiful objects to be found in all directions from Pegasus, but I must leave that for you to research.

We have a modest meteor shower this month – the Orionids.  Its peak occurs on the night of October 21/22.  The radiant is in the right arm of Orion the Hunter, which is at the top left of the constellation Orion.  Orion rises in the east at about 9pm at mid month, but meteors can appear at any time of the night from the radiant’s direction and show up in all parts of the sky.  The Moon will be a waning crescent and although the peak hours for viewing are considered to be about the time that it rises after midnight, it will only interfere with viewing fainter meteors.  Expect a typical peak rate of about 20 meteors per hour. The debris that provides the meteors is equally spaced along the orbital path of Comet 1P/Halley.  The Eta Aquariid shower, in May, occurs when the Earth plows through the other side of Halley’s orbit.  Note that Orion is in the sky all night after 9pm and of course is a beautiful constellation, especially with the Orion nebula below its belt.  For those of you who get up early for work, Orion will be prominent in the south.  Pause for a moment and appreciate how beautiful it is.

Jupiter and Saturn continue to be prominent in October, in the southwest, after sunset. Jupiter will sink lower to the horizon as the month progresses, shortening the time it’s observable. Happily, Saturn will remain viewable in the south-southwest at the end of the month and be nearly as high as it was at the start of the month.  It will also have a large tilt that will provide the observer with an excellent display of its rings.  Mercury and Venus need a clear southwest view since they will be close to the horizon at sunset and difficult to find. Mars will return after a few months absence in late October.  Look for it about an hour before sunrise, close to the eastern horizon.  Follow this beautiful planet as the months pass.  It will be in opposition in about a year.  Uranus will be at its best at month’s end, when it will be in opposition and closest to the Earth.  You will need at least a modest size telescope, a sky chart and plenty of practice and patience to find this treasure.  Uranus is in the constellation Aries.  Also worthy of note is the presence of Neptune.  It is relatively nearby, below Pegasus in the constellation Aquarius.  It is also a worthy challenge.

October 2nd:  Venus is 2 degrees north of Spica.

October 3rd :  The Moon is 2 degrees north of Jupiter.

October 5th:   First quarter Moon.

October 10th :  The Moon is at apogee (farthest)  403,540 Kms.  The Moon passes 4 degrees south of Neptune at 7pm.

October 13th :  Full Moon.  For reasons that are quite obvious, this full Moon is known as the Full Hunter’s Moon or the Full Harvest Moon.  It’s the time to stock up on meat for the winter, bring in the harvest and be thankful.

October 14th :  The Moon passes 4 degrees south of Uranus at 8pm.

October 21st :  Last quarter Moon.  This night is the peak of the Orionid meteor shower.

October 26th :  The moon is at perigee (closest) 359,328 Kms.

October 27th :  New Moon

October 28th :  Uranus is at opposition and as close and as large as it ever gets.

It’s a great month for astronomy so ‘Keep looking up’!  It would be great to hear that some of you took up the Uranus and Neptune challenge and that you had some success.

“The Beginner’s Observing Guide by Leo Enright is an invaluable companion for adventures in the sky.  It also contains useful star charts.  It can be ordered from the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada at www.rasc.ca/publications.  A subscription to our very own excellent Canadian astronomy magazine “SkyNews” can be arranged at the RASC website as well.

Let me know how your observing has gone this month, especially anything unusual.  I enjoy the feedback.  If you have any questions or suggestions you can contact me through this paper or email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .  Clear Skies!  Fred.