This month, be sure to check out the bright and beautiful Pleiades Cluster, easily seen with the naked eye and gorgeous through binoculars or small scopes. For newbies to stargazing, try to find the “W” of Cassiopeia or the Great Square of Pegasus — two very easily recognizable “asterisms” in the fall sky. Jupiter and Saturn will still be visible in the evening sky as well. It’s also a great time to view the Andromeda Galaxy through a telescope, which will be highly placed in the evening sky and is the closest large galaxy to our own Milky Way.
Here are some more highlights:
- 4 — New Moon. This will be the best time of the month to look for Deep Sky Objects.
- 4/5 — Taurid Meteor Shower. A minor shower, but it coincides with the New Moon, so it might be worth a look, especially late.
- 5 — Uranus at Opposition. In most backyard telescopes, this distant planet will appear as just a tiny blue dot, but this is the closest approach it will have to Earth this year.
- 17 — Leonid Meteor Shower. A bright, waxing Gibbous Moon will spoil this popular meteor shower through most of the night, except for a short time in the early morning hours before dawn.
- 19 — Full Moon. This month’s Full Moon is nicknamed the “Beaver Moon.”
- 19 — Partial Lunar Eclipse. The Moon will pass into the Earth’s shadow in the early hours of the morning, reaching maximum coverage around 4 a.m.
Possible rocket launches for the month include the launch of the Boeing Starliner capsule on an Atlas V rocket and NASA’s Space Launch System for Artemis I, but no firm dates have been set.
Enjoy your autumn stargazing, friends!