According to NASA, October is going to be an interesting month for stargazers as the giant planets Jupiter and Saturn will be visible in the night sky throughout the month. Apart from that, Mars will seemingly reverse its course through the night sky and there will be meteors from the Orion constellation. Here are some skywatching tips for the intent stargazers amongst you.
Jupiter and Saturn
The gas giants Jupiter and Saturn will be visible in the night sky throughout October. In the early evening, you will be able to find them to the southeast of the sky, slowly moving towards the west through the night. These two planets form a triangle with the bright star Fomalhaut. Unlike with stars, the light from planets doesn’t twinkle. This makes it easier to separate the different celestial objects in the sky.
Mars in retrograde motion: The red planet will seemingly reverse its course through the night sky towards the end of October. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Retrograde motion of Mars
Relative to the stars in the background, Mars has been moving towards the east all year as it usually does. At the end of October however, the red planet will halt this motion and will apparently reverse course. From November to late January, Mars will be moving towards the west each night in what is known as the retrograde motion of Mars. In January, it will reverse direction again to start moving eastwards once again.
This apparent reversal in motion happens due to the way in which our planet and Mars orbit the Sun. Both planets go around the Sun in elliptical orbits with Earth in the inner orbit. Around once every 26 months, our planet overtakes Mars, which moves slower in its orbit. During the period between when we start passing Mars and before we go around to pass it, we see Mars appearing to change direction, even though it is still moving in the same direction.
Orionid meteor shower
The Orionid meteor shower is a moderate shower that produces between ten and twenty meteors per hour at its peak. It will be active throughout October and November with its peak on the night of October 20. Unfortunately, the moon will be about 20 per cent full during the peak nights so it might interfere a bit with the viewing even though it won’t spoil it completely.
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