Saturn Shines Bright

On October 4th, Saturn reaches opposition, offering one of the best viewing opportunities of the year for the ringed planet. This occurs when Earth moves between the Sun and Saturn, making Saturn appear on the opposite side of the sky from the Sun.

Saturn is also drawing scientific attention due to unusual activity in its atmosphere. Astronomers have long studied a hexagon-shaped jet stream stretching nearly 20,000 miles across the planet's north pole.

More recently, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope revealed a ten-sided atmospheric wave surrounding Saturn's south pole. This feature appears to be growing stronger, giving researchers a rare chance to observe a massive atmospheric structure as it develops.

The Orionid meteor shower reaches its peak during the night of October 21st and into the morning of October 22nd. These meteors come from small pieces of material left behind by Halley's Comet.

Viewing conditions will not be ideal for the entire night this year, as a bright waxing gibbous Moon is expected to overpower some of the fainter meteors. The best opportunity to see the shower may arrive during the few hours before dawn, after the Moon has set.

Another striking sight arrives on the night of October 27th into the 28th, when the Moon passes close to the Pleiades star cluster, also known as the Seven Sisters. The Pleiades have inspired stories in many ancient cultures and can be seen from nearly every part of the world.

To find the pairing, look toward the east during the evening as the Moon and the Pleiades rise higher in the sky. The Pleiades appear as a slightly fuzzy grouping of 6 to 7 stars and are visible to the unaided eye, but binoculars or a telescope reveal more spectacular detail.