TRAC Action Plan: October 2025

October 2025 Calendar

• Fri, 03 Oct Ceres (1) at Opposition
• Sat, 04 Oct Observe the Moon Night 2025
• Sun, 05 Oct Moon close to Saturn
• Tue, 07 Oct Full Moon ("Supermoon")
• Wed, 08 Oct Moon at perigee (359,819 km)
• Mon, 13 Oct Last Quarter Moon
• Mon, 13 Oct Jupiter close to the Moon (After 23:30)
• Tue, 21 Oct New Moon
• Tue, 21 Oct Orionid Meteor Shower peaks
• Thu, 23 Oct Mercury close to the 2-day-old Moon (daytime)
• Wed, 29 Oct Mercury reaches greatest eastern elongation
• Wed, 29 Oct First Quarter Moon

Stargazing

Autumn Constellations

Constellations to look out for this month include:

• Pisces
• Pegasus (Great Square)
• Andromeda
• Perseus
• Cetus
• Aquarius
• Capricornus
• Aries

By this time of year, the winter constellations begin to rise in the east after 22:00 — familiar favourites like Orion and Taurus are returning to our skies.

Helvetios and Dimidium

The large constellation Pegasus contains a star called Helvetios (mag. +5.6), also known as 51 Pegasi or 51 Peg. It's located 50.6 light-years from Earth.

A planet called Dimidium (51 Pegasi b) orbits this star:

• Dimidium was the first ever exoplanet to be discovered.
• An exoplanet is a planet outside our solar system.
• Its discovery in 1995 was a major achievement in astronomy.
• In 2017, traces of water were discovered in Dimidium's atmosphere.
• In 2019, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded in part for the discovery of 51 Pegasi b.

This planet is of special interest in the history of astronomy. Luckily for us, its host star, Helvetios, is bright enough to be seen with a small telescope.

Deep Sky Objects

Andromeda Galaxy (M31)

October is the perfect time to view our closest major galaxy.

Please refer back to our September 2025 Action Plan.

Planets

Mercury

• Mercury (mag. -0.2) reaches greatest eastern elongation on 29 Oct 2025.
• At that time, it will be separated from the Sun by around 24 degrees.
• The problem is the planet will be very low in the sky after sunset.

Venus

• Venus (mag. -3.9) is a morning planet in October.
• Best seen at around 06:00 at the start of the month.
• We enjoyed our best views of Venus earlier in the year.

Mars

Mars is not visible this month.

Jupiter

• Jupiter (mag. -2.1) will appear bright, but it doesn't rise until late in the evening.
• Views of Jupiter will improve over the winter.
• Next month will be a better time to focus on Jupiter.

Saturn

• Saturn (mag. +0.7) reached opposition on 21 Sep 2025.
• Now's an excellent time to observe it and its largest moons.
• Its rings now appear almost edge-on.
• We'll see how many of Saturn's moons we can spot.

21 Oct 2025: Titan transits Saturn at 23:41.

29 Oct 2025: Titan occulted by Saturn at 20:38.

Uranus

• Uranus (mag. +5.7) will reach opposition next month.
• The planet is well-placed for us, rising high after 22:00.
• We should find it easier to locate this time because it's positioned close to the Pleiades.
• As before, the aim is to see if we can detect any colour.

Image credit: Stellarium

Above image: Uranus's position on 28 Sep 2025.

Neptune

• Neptune (mag. +7.8) reached opposition on 23 Sep 2025, so now's a great time to work on seeing this distant ice giant.
• We'll take another look at Neptune if we get a clear night.
• Our aim is to observe it as a small blue disc rather than a white point of light. It's hard to know if this is within our reach.

Minor Planet Ceres (1)

• Ceres (mag. +7.6) reaches opposition on 03 Oct 2025.
• This asteroid is located in the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
• It's roughly 2 AU away from Earth at opposition.
• Ceres is smaller than 1,000 km wide, so it will appear as a small white point of light through a telescope.
• It was the first known asteroid, discovered on 1 January 1801 by Giuseppe Piazzi in Sicily.

Lunar Observations

October 2025 Lunar Calendar

• Full Moon Tue 07
• Last Quarter Mon 13
• New Moon Tue 21
• First Quarter Wed 29

Observe the Moon Night 2025

TRAC is participating in this year's "International Observe the Moon Night".

Invite your friends and family to come and see the Moon through a telescope.

Image credit: NASA

We'll meet at 19:00 and get everything set up and ready for 19:30.

Read our events page for more information.

Image credit: KK/JM/MK (TRAC)

Meteor Showers

The Orionids

• This meteor shower will peak on the evening of 21 Oct 2025.
• It's known for its fast meteors, which often leave a persistent trail.
• The Orionids is caused by debris from Halley's Comet (Comet 1P/Halley) burning up in Earth's atmosphere.

It's an excellent year for observing this meteor shower because the peak period coincides with the new Moon, which also occurs on 21 Oct 2025.

Admin Tasks

• Finish planning how we're going to run our event for the "NASA International Observe the Moon Night 2025" on 04 Oct 2025.
• Plan our observations of Ceres, M31, and 51 Pegasi.

Summary

Top Priorities for October 2025

In descending order of importance:

1. Observe the Moon Night (04 Oct)
2. Locating and tracking Ceres
3. Andromeda Galaxy
4. 51 Pegasi

See You Out There

I know everyone will be hoping for clear skies on the evening of 04 Oct for our "Observe the Moon Night" gathering. We still have a couple of days to get the last few things organised so that we'll be ready for Saturday. We'll meet at 19:00 and get set up for 19:30 in the park.

On 24 Oct 2025, MKAS will be hosting their Family Space Night. It sounds like a fun evening. We'll be heading up to Bredhurst at 19:30 on Friday, 24 Oct. Get your tickets ASAP!

James M
TRAC Team Leader
01 Oct 2025 – Rainham, Kent