In the Sky This Month
October 6: Pole 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.
October 7: Spring Stars
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.
October 8: Draconid Meteors
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.
October 9: Capricornus
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.
October 10: Messier 30
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.
October 11: Moon and Jupiter
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.
October 12: Andromeda Galaxies
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.
Source
Witches Of The Craft® 