The sky of October 2024

Here is the great guide to observing the October sky. Visibility of constellations, planets and all celestial events

October introduces us to the heart of the autumn season characterized by less exposure to sunlight, also sanctioned by the return, in the countries of the European Union, to Standard Time which will come into force on the night between Saturday 26th and Sunday 271st October. At 3 in the morning the hands will have to be moved back one hour, i.e. to 2. The protagonist of the month is the cometa C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) which will reach its maximum splendor in the current month ().

Let’s dive in now sky of October 2024.

The constellations in the October sky

To the north-east you can follow the rise of the Perseus-Cassiopeia couple and the rise of the Auriga with the brilliant Capella (α Aurigae), already followed by the lights of the Bull with the beautiful star Aldebaran (α Tauri) which, together with Pleiadesrepresent the avant-gardes of the winter sky.

To the north on the horizon, the Big Dipper asterism will be at the lowest point of its path across the sky. To the North-West Bootes and Hercules will already be at sunset and to the West we find the Summer Triangle Vega, Altair and Deneb (respectively Lira, Eagle and Swan also at sunset. To the south-west we find Capricorn and Aquarius then continuing towards the south and south-east we find Pisces, The Whale and Eridanos. In the East the scenario will be completed with the rising of Orion with its main star Betelgeuse (α Orionis), protagonist of many articles in recent months and Gemini with its brightest stars Castor (α Geminorum) and Pollux (β Geminorum) . At Zenith we find Cepheus and Pegasus, inside we find the constellation of where it is also possible to observe the galaxy of the same name with simple binoculars (but in very dark skies it can already be glimpsed with the naked eye).

For those who want to approach sky observation, we recommend the book by Daniele Gasparri““. Here’s the .

Visibility of the planets

Planetary observation always has an enormous fascination as does their photography. If you are interested in planetary imaging, . Below, here is an overview of the visibility of all eight planets of the solar system in the October 2024 sky:

1. Mercurio: observation of the planet in October will not be the best. We will find it visible to the west at the end of the month for about half an hour after sunset;
2. Venus: It will be visible in the evening sky after the sun sets. As the days pass it will be increasingly brighter in the west
3. Marte: Finally the red planet is visible again at more evening hours. We will find it visible to the naked eye in the east before midnight towards the end of the month;
4. Jupiter: It will be clearly visible throughout the night, making it the brightest planet together with Venus. Ideal for observation even with telescopes (its atmosphere and Galilean satellites are extraordinary);
5. Saturn: It will be visible for almost the entire night, with its rings clearly observable if you use a telescope;
6. Uranus: The planet is in a good condition to always be observed with a ;
7. Neptune: Also visible with a will be visible for almost the entire night (after last month’s opposition), but requires a little more effort to be located even with a telescope as it is invisible to the naked eye.

Observation of the Milky Way

Although summer is now over, October still allows you to observe and photograph the in an interesting way. In this month the nucleus is no longer completely visible above the horizon, but during the very first part of the night some of it will be observable. The Milky Way will be visible already after dusk in a South-West direction, and will appear in the sky immediately with a practically vertical inclination. Over the course of the night it will move sharply towards the West and at the same time will continue to decline.

Based on these characteristics it is recommended but portraying the entire (visible) galactic arc is really complicated, therefore not recommended. For a good observation we know how important it is to have the sky clear of the Moonand it is therefore advisable to wait at least until the 24th of the month, days in which our satellite will rise well into the night, giving us a window of a few hours. The best nights are those of the new moon, starting from day 2.

Moon and celestial events

The Police officer there will be October 17, 2024 (it will be a Supermoon: our Satellite will be at a distance of 363.763 km). The new Moon will fall on October 2nd and the first quarter on October 10th. Finally, the last quarter will fall on the 24th. The Moon can be easily observed even with fairly cheap binoculars and we recommend this: .

Good observations and clear skies

Article written by: Pasquale D’Anna,