What’s Up in the Night Sky? – October 2023

Fred Barrett | Oct 04, 2023

Where is the centre of the Universe? The short answer is that the universe has no centre and no boundary! Think of a 2-dimensional creature living on the surface of a balloon. Where would the centre be to that 2 dimensional being? The balloon can bend and expand in 3 dimensions. The little creature would never find the centre because that centre is in 3D space. Our universe has at least 4 dimensions and there might be more. Humans are 3D creatures and we can’t see the centre of our universe. Maybe there’s no centre anywhere! Can there be a border or edge in this universe? Does a balloon have an edge for our 2D critter?

It’s a pretty exciting month! We have an annular eclipse of the Sun on the 14th that peaks at about 1:14 in the early afternoon. An annular eclipse occurs when the Moon is not quite large enough to completely block out the Sun. A circle of brightness circles the black presence of the Moon as it passes in front of the Sun. Our area is ideal for seeing the whole event. Remember that you need eye protection. Not sunglasses! You need at least welder’s goggles or commercially available eclipse glasses to be safe from permanent eye damage. You can also build a pinhole camera. Simple! Just poke a small sharp hole in a piece of cardboard. Place the cardboard between the Sun and a white piece of paper. The Sun will shine through giving you a small image of the Sun. Adjust the distance between the cardboard and the white paper to focus. Practice this technique a few days earlier so you are prepared in advance. Try different small hole sizes and distances.

We also have a meteor shower. The annual Orionid shower peaks on the evening of the 21st/22nd. The debris from the repeated swings of Halley’s comet around the Sun provides the material for this sky show. The radiant is in the NE portion of the constellation Orion and just above the red giant star Betelgeuse. In case the peak night ends up being cloudy, I’ll remind you again that almost as many meteors’ streaks will appear in the days leading up to and after the peak date. Also, the meteors can appear all over the sky and, even though the radiant may not have risen above the horizon in early evening, will still appear across the sky.

The best time to view is after 2 am when the Earth turns its night time face towards the debris and directly into their path. The light from a First Quarter Moon will not impede the meteor show. Fifteen to twenty meteor an hour can be expected and also, watch for some unpredictable bursts of activity.

Meteors hit the atmosphere at very high velocities but air friction puts the brakes put on pretty quickly! From an initial entry at about 128,000 Km per hour meteors slow to a leisurely 450 Km/hr. If they were to strike you, you would likely just receive a bruise, a very nasty bruise.

Saturn is still a spectacular sight in the evenings throughout the month in the SW portion of Aquarius. It reaches high in the south before midnight. The rings are easily viewed in a small telescope and its moons can readily be seen, especially Titan. Be careful not to mistake a star for a moon. The moons orbit in the plane of the rings. They will change from night to night so search the internet for their positions on the night you wish to observe.

Jupiter is a month from opposition and reaches its brightest at the end of the month. It rises about 8 pm in early October and can be found in the southern area of the constellation Aries. I’ve been watching it through the later days of September and this giant planet and its moons, definitely do not disappoint the eye. The detail on its bands and zones get better as this month progresses. The two dark bands and the huge storm that is the Great Red Spot are well seen in a modest telescope. Binoculars can provide views of the moons and faint outlines of the bands.

This is also a good month for having a go at finding and observing Uranus and Neptune. Neptune is in Pisces. It is just past opposition and an opportune time to hunt it down. Uranus is approaching opposition and growing brighter and is about 10 degrees SW of the Pleiades and 10 degrees NE of Jupiter. A modest telescope and some research on the internet will certainly help.

Venus is a very bright blast in the eyes this month when it rises about 3:30 am in the east. Venus provides a good marker for the Zodiacal light especially around the time of the New Moon. Watch for the faint glowing cone shape rising up in the east before sunrise.

Here are the highlights for this month:

Oct.6: Last Quarter Moon. Oct.8: The Moon is 3.5 degrees from the Beehive cluster in Cancer. Oct. 9: Thanksgiving and a time to gobble. The Moon is at Apogee – 403,072 Kms. Oct. 10: Venus passes 2 degrees south of Regulus at 1 am. Moon passes 6 degrees north of Venus at 6 am. The Moon, Regulus and Venus form a line. Oct. 14: Annular Solar eclipse peaks at 1:14 pm. A New Moon occurs at 1:55pm. Oct. 21/22: Orionid Meteor Shower peaks. First quarter Moon. Oct.24: Moon close below Saturn at 4 am. Oct. 25: The Moon passes 1.5 degrees south of Neptune at 9pm. Moon is at perigee – 362,754 Kms. Oct. 28: Full Harvest Moon. Also, Full Hunter’s Moon. Either way, different creatures are getting ready to be shot or eaten! Everything is fat and it’s a stressful time. Oct. 29: The Moon passes 3 degrees north of Jupiter 2 hours before dawn. The Moon passes 3 degrees north of Uranus at 10pm. Oct. 31: Halloween. Time to sit in the pumpkin patch and wait for the Great Pumpkin to appear.

A reminder: November 5 is the end of Daylight-Saving Time.

Let me know how your observing has gone this month, especially anything unusual. I enjoy the feedback. If you have any questions or suggestions, you can contact me through this paper or email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Clear skies! Fred.