Keith Wilson has had a lifelong interest in the night sky and has written for space and astronomy publications in the UK and USA. He lives under the dark night skies of the Isle of Gigha.
Jupiter
The end of October is a busy time in our night sky, with three events in particular for you to spot, so let’s hope the clouds keep away.
Our solar system’s largest planet Jupiter dominates our night sky in the south east. The only object that’s brighter than Jupiter is the Moon, so you can’t fail to spot it.
Unlike our planet, Jupiter doesn’t have a solid surface – it is a huge ball of gas. It is more than twice as big than all the other planets of our solar system together.
It has a huge swirling storm known as the Great Red Spot which you need a telescope to see. The storm is actually bigger than our planet.
The giant planet has more than 80 moons, most too small to see from earth, but four of them can easily been seen if you use binoculars. They look like tiny starlike pinpricks of light. You will know they are not stars because you will see them stretched out in a line next to the giant planet.
You might just see one moon, or all four, depending on their position around Jupiter when you take a look.
Orionids meteor shower
Did you miss the Perseid meteor shower in August? If so, we have another one in our skies this weekend.
This shower of shooting stars is known as the Orionids and is the result of Earth passing through the debris left behind by the famous Halley’s Comet.
The best time to see these shooting stars is after midnight on the night of October 21/22.
They appear to come from the constellation of Orion in the south east but can be seen over a large area of sky – just look up.
Lunar eclipse
A week after the meteor shower, it is the turn of the Moon to put on a night sky event for us.
On October 28, we will witness a partial lunar eclipse during the full moon. This one will not be as impressive as a full lunar eclipse as only a small part of the Moon will be affected. The best time to see it will be around 9.15pm.
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Sun, Earth and Moon are all in line and the Moon passes into Earth’s shadow.
Look at the lowest part of the Moon’s disk and you will notice it takes on a reddish colour.
Unlike a solar eclipse, this is a perfectly safe one to view.