October Skies

- By James Edgar

September 25, 2025

On the 10th, the Moon is 0.9 degrees north of The Pleiades (M45). By the 13th, Jupiter is 4 degrees south, plus the Beehive Cluster (M44) is in close vicinity later the same day. This will be a good time to check out Jupiter’s double shadow events–see below. On the 16th, Regulus is 1.2 degrees south of the Moon, an occultation for extreme northern Canada. Venus is 4 degrees north of the thin sliver of the Moon on the 19th. The Moon is new on the 21st. The 23rd sees Mars and Mercury sharing the sky with our satellite–the former is 5 degrees north; the latter is 2 degrees north. On the 24th, Antares is 0.5 degrees north of the waxing crescent Moon.

Mercury appears in the western evening sky early in the month, providing the best evening view of 2025 for Southern Hemisphere observers. The speedy planet slowly separates from the Sun, achieving greatest elongation east on the 29th. It remains brighter than magnitude 0.0 all month long. It’s within 2 degrees of Mars on October 20–21 and about the same distance from the 2-day-old Moon on the 23rd.

Venus, shining brightly, rises in the eastern sky before twilight. Catch it before sunrise, or even after the Sun is in the sky.

Mars is difficult to locate in early evening twilight as it gets closer to the Sun during the month. The Red Planet is in conjunction with Mercury on the 20th–21st, with Mars appearing the smaller and fainter of the two.

Jupiter rises around midnight; the last-quarter Moon passes by on the 13th. The giant planet has numerous double-shadow transit events this month, involving various combinations of all four Galilean satellites–about every two or three days.

Saturn is in good position all through the night. Watch as the month progresses to see the ring tilt decrease to almost face on. The Moon passes by on the 5th.

Uranus crosses the sky for most of the night as it approaches its November 21 opposition. It’s slowly retrograding in the constellation Taurus, The Bull.

Neptune is in Pisces, hanging out with The Fishes.

The large Minor Planet Ceres is at opposition on October 2–something worth looking for.

The zodiacal light is visible before eastern morning twilight for the last two weeks of October.

The Orionid meteors peak on October 21.