Here’s a brief look at what’s going on in the Mile High City this week.
October 6:
- Full Hunter’s/Harvest Moon: 9:47 PM
October 7:
- Look for Jupiter occulting the Twinkling Comet Cluster in the low eastern skies in Gemini – The “Twinkling Comet Cluster” (NGC 2420) is a rich open cluster often described as a ghostly glow that fans out like a comet’s tail before resolving into stars: 1:00 AM
October 8:
- The waxing gibbous Hunter’s Moon reaches perigee (it’s closest distance to Earth at distance 359,819km) at 6:50 AM.
- Look for the Draconid meteor shower to peak into the early hours of the 9th. Expect a few meteors per hours. Although, the falling stars interfered with by the light of the waxing gibbous Harvest Moon.
October 9:
- Watch the waxing gibbous Harvest Moon occulting the Pleiades in the constellation Taurus in the eastern sky around 11:00 PM
- Standley Lake Stargazing Virtual Program “The Genesis Rock and Other Lunar Paydirt”: Zoom Virtual Meeting: 6:00 PM
- Pluto at southernmost declination (−23.5°) at 21h UT (evening sky). Mag. 14.5.
October 10:
- Winter is coming! Winter is approaching and the Winter Triangle asterism is already gracing our late night skies in the southeast. This asterism connects the bright stars Betelgeuse, Sirius, and Procyon to form a large triangle in the winter sky. It will rise earlier and earlier as the cold months approach.
October 11:
- Colorado Springs Astronomical Society MacLaren Community Stargazing Night: 📍Thomas MacLaren School: 6:00 PM
October 12:
- Catch the waxing gibbous Hunter’s Moon near M35 in the easterm sky in the constellation Gemini in the early morning hours. M35 is a large, bright open star cluster visible to the naked eye under dark skies, containing several thousand stars.
Check Out These Helpful Guides from DAS:
- Where to Explore the 2025 Denver Night Skies
- When to Explore the 2025 Denver Night Skies
- What to Explore in the 2025 Denver Night Skies
Sky Map
- The pdf map of the night sky from SkyMaps.com can be found at https://www.skymaps.com/skymaps
This Week’s Meteoric Activity:
You can keep track of the activity of meteor showers as well as those beyond the limits of visual observing by visiting the NASA Meteor Shower Portal.
- October Draconids (DRA): after midnight in northern Draco: Up to 10 per hour
- Southern Taurids (STA) & Anthelion (ANT): 1:00 AM in southeastern Pisces: 2 per hour.
- epsilon Geminids (EGE): last few hours before dawn in southern Auriga: 1 per hour.
- Orionids (ORI): last hour before dawn in northwestern Orion: 1 per hour.
