This is an old revision of the document!


Sky Highlights and NEKAAL Events for OCTOBER 2015

  • October 4 – Last Quarter (moon absent from evening sky)
  • October 10 – OPEN HOUSE at Farpoint Observatory, JOIN US beginning 7:30 pm
  • October 12 – New Moon
  • October 20 – First Quarter
  • October 12 – NEKAAL General Meeting, Topeka Library, JOIN US at 7:00 pm
  • October 27 – Full Moon

PLANETS in October 2015

Evening Sky:

  • Saturn – in southwest until ~ Oct 15.
  • Uranus – in east
  • Neptune – in southeast

Midnight:

  • Neptune – in southwest
  • Uranus – in south

Morning Sky:

  • Uranus – in west
  • Mercury – in east
  • Venus – in east
  • Mars – in east
  • Jupiter – in east

CONSTELLATIONS well placed in evening during October 2015

North to South, at 9-11 pm:

  • Ursa Minor, the Little Bear, also the Little Dipper
  • Draco, the Dragon
  • Cepheus, the King of Ethiopia
  • Lyra, the Lyre
  • Cygnus, the Swan
  • Delphinus, the Dolphin
  • Sagitta, the Arrow
  • Aquila, the Eagle
  • Capricorn, the Sea-Goat

SKY EXTRAS in October 2015

  • The Summer Triangle continues nearly straight overhead (near the zenith) in the evenings.
  • No bright planets in the second half of this month's evenings. But you can't miss extremely brilliant Venus in the morning twilight!
  • No comets visible in binoculars from Kansas this month. Best telescope bet this month is comet PANSTARRS (C/2014 S2), visible in Cepheus at magnitude 11-12 and brightening slowly. Should be in Ursa Minor (little dipper) by Halloween. You'll probably need a 6“ telescope or larger. You might also still find comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2) moving from Corona Borealis into Hercules, high in the sky after evening twilight.
  • The Orionids meteor shower peaks on the night of October 21. The moon sets about midnight, which is ideal as the Orion constellation and the meteor shower's radiant will be high enough in the sky after about 2 am, and the maximum rate will be 4-6 am. Look in the southeastern sky.