What to see in October’s night sky: Saturn, Orionids and Pleiades

According to NASA, on October 4, Saturn will reach opposition, when Earth passes between the Sun and the ringed planet. Saturn will rise around sunset and remain visible for much of the night, offering one of the year's best opportunities to observe it.

On October 6, a thin crescent Moon will appear close to bright Jupiter before sunrise.

The Orionid meteor shower will peak overnight on October 21-22. The meteors are created by debris left behind by Halley’s Comet and can appear anywhere in the sky. A bright waxing gibbous Moon will obscure some of the fainter meteors, so NASA recommends watching after moonset in the hours before dawn from a dark location.

On the night of October 27-28, the Moon will pass close to the Pleiades star cluster. The cluster, visible to the naked eye as a fuzzy group of six to seven stars, can be seen rising higher in the eastern sky during the evening. Binoculars or a telescope can reveal more detail.

NASA also highlighted a recently observed atmospheric feature on Saturn. Observations using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope revealed a ten-sided atmospheric wave around the planet’s south pole. The feature appears to be strengthening, allowing scientists to observe the development of a giant atmospheric pattern.

The Moon’s main phases in October will occur on October 3 (third quarter), October 10 (new Moon), October 18 (first quarter) and October 25 (full Moon).

Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that September offered skywatchers several notable celestial events, including brilliant Venus, the September equinox and the Harvest Moon near Saturn and Neptune.