Current Night Sky: October 2018

The Moon & Planets: 
October sky chart

The summer lineup of planets has passed. By mid-October, Venus is no longer visible in the evening, and Jupiter is getting progressively lower. Saturn and Mars, though, remain prominent. At midmonth, the Moon passes through the lineup (October 16, 2018; 6:30 pm EDT).

Orionid meteors

The Orionid meteors are active during the last two weeks of October, with a peak in the pre-dawn hours of Oct. 21. Though they can appear anywhere in the sky, their paths can be traced back to a location in the sky (called the radiant) in Orion. This year, unfortunately, the light of the nearly full Moon drowns out the fainter meteors. The best views may be during the short period between moonset and dawn (October 21, 2018; 4:30 am EDT).

Uranus

Uranus reaches opposition on Oct. 23. It lies opposite to our Sun in our sky, so rises at sunset, stays up all night, and sets at sunrise. It is as close to Earth as it gets this year: 1.75 billion miles away; light from the planet takes about 2½ hours to reach us. Even though Uranus is considered an "Ice Giant," from our distant perspective it appears no larger than 3.7 arc-seconds across. It reaches magnitude 5.7 in brightness – within the range of naked-eye visibility under good conditions (although there is no record of it having been recognized as a planet before its discovery in 1781). In a modest telescope, it looks like a pale, grey disk: tiny, but clearly not a star-like point (October 23, 2018; 2:00 am EDT).

Evening Planets (after sunset): 
  • Mercury, SW
  • Venus, SW
  • Jupiter, SW
  • Saturn, SW
  • Mars, S
  • Neptune, SE
  • Uranus, E
Morning Planets (before sunrise): 
  • Uranus, W
Comets: 

The comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner may attain magnitude 7, making it a fine telescopic object. A word of caution, however: the orbits and positions of comets can be predicted with considerable accuracy, but brightness estimates are notoriously unreliable.

Meteors: 

The Orionid meteor shower peaks on October 21. After the Moon sets, you may see up to 20 meteors per hour.

Phases of the Moon: 
Last Quarter Moon October 2 5:45 am EDT
New Moon October 8 11:47 pm EDT
First Quarter Moon October 16 2:02 pm EDT
Full Moon October 24 12:45 pm EDT
Last Quarter Moon October 31 12:40 pm EDT

Text, graphics, and animations by John Sheff. Graphics courtesy of Starry Night(©) Pro Plus 7 / Imaginova(©) Corp. Starry Night images are used with permission from Imaginova Corp. Starry Night is a registered trademark of Imaginova Corp. Star charts generated by Starry Night Pro Plus 7 © Imaginova Corp. All rights reserved. www.StarryNight.com