In the Sky This Month

Saturn, the second-largest planet in the solar system, huddles quite close to the Moon tonight. The giant planet looks like a bright golden star to the left of the Moon.

Deneb Algedi, the tail of the sea-goat, is in the southern sky at nightfall, in the constellation Capricornus. Deneb Algedi is a good bit bigger and hotter than the Sun, and much farther along in life.

The Andromeda galaxy is in the east-northeast at nightfall. Under dark skies, it looks like a smudge of light. It’s a family of hundreds of billions of stars. It is 2.5 million light-years away — the farthest object easily visible to the eye alone.

Brilliant Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, lines up below the Moon in early evening. It looks like a brilliant star, with a bit of a creamy color.

A cluster from another galaxy scoots across the south on October evenings. Messier 30, in the lower left corner of Capricornus, is a family of hundreds of thousands of stars. They probably came from another galaxy, which was consumed by the Milky Way.

Despite its fame as a member of the zodiac, Capricornus is tough to see. It’s the smallest member of the zodiac, and one of the faintest. It forms a distinctive pattern, though, like the bottom of a bikini bathing suit.

The unpredictable Draconid meteor shower should be at its best tonight. It could produce anything from no meteors at all to an outburst of hundreds. They are best observed before midnight.

The Sun is moving across Virgo this week. Today, it’s not far from Virgo’s brightest star, Spica. We can’t see it because of Earth’s blue skies. If you look at the sky at midnight six months from now, though, you’ll see today’s noontime stars.

The Big Dipper is plunging toward the horizon as night falls now, as if it’s about to dip into a pail of cool water. Line up the stars at the leading edge of the dipper’s bowl, and follow that line to the upper right to reach Polaris, the Pole Star.

Regulus, the bright star that represents the heart of Leo, the lion, will stand to the upper right of the crescent Moon at first light tomorrow.