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Skywatching
Our viewing guide tells you which planets are visible in August’s night sky and how you can see them.
(Image credit: Tony Rowell/Getty Images)
October makes for an excellent month for viewing planets in he night sky.
Venus remains a dominant object in the southeast morning sky for nearly four hours prior to sunrise throughout the month. And during the first week of October, it also joined by Mercury, although only a fraction as bright and much lower to the horizon. It disappears into the sunrise fires thereafter.
In the evening sky, Saturn is visible virtually for the entire night; low in the southeast at dusk, reaching its high point in the south during the middle of night and descending the southwest sky toward dawn. A much brighter Jupiter makes its first appearance low in the eastern sky about 90 minutes after sunset on Oct. 1, and by month’s end it is rising around sunset.
The only planet that continues “out of the loop” is Mars, which will remain out of sight, too near the vicinity of the sun to be seen right through the end of the year.
Related: Night sky, October 2023: What you can see tonight [maps]
Read more: Best telescopes for seeing planets in 2023
In our schedule, remember that when measuring the angular separation between two celestial objects, your clenched fist held at arm’s length measures roughly 10 degrees. Below, we present a schedule that provides some of the best planet viewing times and also tells you where to look to see them.
Be sure to check out our best telescopes for viewing planets guide and our more general guides for the best binoculars and the best telescopes. If you’re interested in taking your own impressive skywatching images, we have recommendations for the best cameras for astrophotography and the best lenses for astrophotography.
Mercury
Mercury as it will appear in the October night sky. (Image credit: Chris Vaughan/Starry Night)
Mercury can be glimpsed in morning twilight the first few days of October. This morning, this planet of magnitude -1.0 rises one and a quarter hours before the sun and can be found with binoculars 30 degrees to the lower left of Venus.
Mercury had a fine morning apparition in mid-to-late September, but now this smallest and fastest of planets appears lower in the dawn each day, and is lost from view after the first week of October. Mercury reaches superior conjunction with the sun on Oct. 20. It will appear low in the evening sky in late November and early December.
Venus
Venus as it will appear in the October night sky. (Image credit: Chris Vaughan/Starry Night)
Venus in October is the highest it ever gets in the dawn sky, about 30 degrees up in the southeast an hour before sunrise for watchers at mid-northern latitudes. On the morning of Oct. 10, you’ll find it gleaming 2 degrees to the lower right of the brightest star in the constellation Leo the Lion, bluish 1st-magnitude Regulus, and outshining it by a factor of 209 to 1.
In addition, on the same morning, a lovely waning crescent moon hangs a half dozen degrees to the upper left of the dazzler and about 4 degrees to the upper left of the star. Lamp-like Venus attains greatest elongation (46 degrees west of the sun) this morning, rising several minutes short of four hours before our star. The planet’s globe may not appear half-lit in a telescope until several days later; check each morning. Venus’ apparent diameter shrinks by 30% during October, while its phase thickens from 37% to 55% sunlit.
Mars
Mars as it will appear in the October night sky. (Image credit: Chris Vaughan/Starry Night)
Mars is invisible this month. It’s on the far side of the sun as seen from Earth, lost in the solar glare. Solar conjunction is on Nov. 18.
Jupiter
Jupiter as it will appear in the October night sky. (Image credit: Chris Vaughan/Starry Night)
Jupiter rises 1.5 hours after sunset, but it comes up earlier each evening as the month advances. On Oct. 1, look low toward the east-northeast horizon around 9 p.m. local daylight time and you’ll find Jupiter shining brilliantly about 2 degrees to the lower right of a waning gibbous moon.
Then, on Oct. 28, for a second time this month the moon and Jupiter will make for an eye-catching pair. Look for them appearing due east at around 8 p.m. local daylight time, with Jupiter hovering about 4 degrees to the moon’s lower left. Jupiter is less than a week from its Nov. 3 opposition, when it rises at sunset and sets at sunrise. By the middle of the night the behemoth world shines more than 60 degrees high in the south for viewers at latitude 40 degrees north.
Saturn
Saturn as it will appear in the October night sky. (Image credit: Chris Vaughan/Starry Night)
Saturn is high in the southeast at nightfall and reaches its peak altitude in the south around mid-evening. It’s by far the brightest thing in Aquarius, a steady yellow light of magnitude +0.7. On the evening of Oct. 23, Saturn stands well to the upper left of the waxing gibbous moon but otherwise seems an outcast. The only really naked-eye star within less than 2 degrees of it is Iota (ι) Aquarii, magnitude +4.3. In a telescope, Saturn’s rings appear more tilted — nearly 10.5 degrees — than they were during the spring and summer.
Now is also a good time to see if you can detect a few of the Saturnian globe’s subtle dark belts and light zones. And Saturn never lacks close company: Its orangey 8th-magnitude moon Titan is bright enough to show at magnification 25x in a small telescope.
Want to check out the planets in the night sky? See our guides on the best telescopes, the best binoculars, and the best telescopes for seeing planets.
And if you’re looking to take awesome photos the planets of the night sky, check out our guides on or how to photograph the planets, as well as our best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography.
Editor’s Note: If you get a great photo of any of the planets and would like to share it with Space.com’s readers, send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to [email protected].
Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York’s Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the Farmers’ Almanac and other publications.
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Joe Rao is Space.com’s skywatching columnist, as well as a veteran meteorologist and eclipse chaser who also serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York’s Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the Farmers’ Almanac and other publications. Joe is an 8-time Emmy-nominated meteorologist who served the Putnam Valley region of New York for over 21 years. You can find him on Twitter and YouTube tracking lunar and solar eclipses, meteor showers and more. To find out Joe’s latest project, visit him on Twitter.
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