MEDIA NOTE: For a black graphic, click here. For a white graphic, click here.
By Deane Morrison
This September, the sun isn’t the only bright object dropping in the sky. Venus also follows a steady course downward.
This year, the moon and planets dominate October’s skies.
The month opens with Venus outshining everything else in the predawn sky. Look for it low in the east, just before dawn starts to break. Don’t wait too long, as our sister planet will soon be lost in the rising sun’s glare. To Venus’s upper right, three bright objects form a diagonal line. Highest is Jupiter; in the middle is Procyon, in Canis Minor, the little dog; and holding the anchor position is brilliant Sirius, in Canis Major, the big dog.
At nightfall, a waxing moon opens the month in the south, below the big Summer Triangle of stars. The moon glides steadily eastward to keep a rendezvous with Saturn on the 5th. The moon’s glare will probably wash out the Circlet of Pisces, a dim ring of stars above Saturn and below the Great Square of Pegasus. The Circlet represents one of two fish that join to form the constellation Pisces.
The next evening—the 6th—the moon reaches fullness. As the closest full moon to the fall equinox, this is the harvest moon. This year, though, it’s essentially a tie with September’s full moon, which was almost as close to the equinox. But unlike September’s, October’s full moon will be a supermoon. It falls less than two days before perigee, the point in its orbit when the moon is closest to Earth. Moon fans will notice its large size, which is best appreciated when the moon is close to the horizon.
But the moon doesn’t rest on its laurels. The evening of the 9th, it will be close to the lovely Pleiades star cluster. During that night, the moon will glide right across the Pleiades. And don’t miss it in the predawn sky on the 19th, when a thin old crescent moon visits Venus.
The University of Minnesota offers public viewings of the night sky at its Duluth and Twin Cities campuses. For more information and viewing schedules, see:
Duluth, Marshall W. Alworth Planetarium: www.d.umn.edu/planet
Twin Cities, Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics: www.astro.umn.edu/outreach/pubnight
Check out the astronomy programs at the University of Minnesota's Bell Museum Exploradome: www.bellmuseum.umn.edu/education/exploradome
Find U of M astronomers and links to the world of astronomy at http://www.astro.umn.edu
9/22/25 Contact: Deane Morrison, University Marketing Communications, (612) 720-3721, morri029@umn.edu
Minnesota Starwatch is a service of the Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics, located in the Tate Laboratory of Physics and Astronomy, 116 Church St. S.E., Minneapolis MN 55455. Distributed once a month, Minnesota Starwatch and its associated maps are for use in your newspaper or other media outlet.
To unsubscribe, please email Deane Morrison at morri029@umn.edu and put "unsubscribe MN Starwatch" in the subject line.