Saturn takes centre stage in the night sky this month, and the official monthly guide walks viewers through what to look for, and when. Saturn reached opposition on 4 October, giving skywatchers one of the best opportunities of the year to see the ringed planet, and the film also explains a ten-sided atmospheric wave recently revealed around Saturn’s south pole by space telescope observations.
Later in the month, the Orionid meteor shower peaks on 21 and 22 October. The meteors are debris from Halley’s Comet, though bright moonlight may hide the faintest streaks, making the hours before dawn, after the Moon sets, the best bet. On 27 and 28 October, the Moon passes close to the Pleiades, the star cluster also known as the Seven Sisters, visible to the unaided eye and finer still through binoculars.
Video: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (official YouTube channel). The film is embedded from the channel’s own publication; nothing has been downloaded or re-uploaded.
