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Photograph of Saturn against a dark background, seen nearly edge-on with its ring system stretching horizontally across the globe and casting a thin shadow band on the planet. The pale gold and tan cloud bands are visible, with a bright white storm feature swirling in the planet's southern hemisphere.

October 2026: What’s in the sky this month?

Photograph of Saturn against a black background, tilted so its northern hemisphere faces the viewer with wide ring system encircling it. The planet's disk shows subtle bands of tan, cream, and pale gold, with a darker hexagonal-tinted region visible near the north pole. The rings display distinct concentric divisions, including a prominent dark gap, and cast a soft shadow onto the upper part of the globe.

October 2026: What’s in the Southern Hemisphere sky this month?

Star chart of the constellation Pisces labeled at upper left, dated September 30, 10 P.M. EDT, showing the asteroid Nausikaa marked as a small red dot near center among scattered white and pale orange field stars. A compass arrow indicates north and east at upper left, and a 2 degree scale bar sits at lower right.

The Sky Today on Wednesday, September 30: Asteroid Nausikaa at opposition

Telescopes and Equipment

New astronomy products to fall for this month

Telescopic simulation of Jupiter and its moons, dated September 29, 2026, 5:30 A.M. CDT. Jupiter is shown at center with its tan and brown cloud bands and a reddish storm feature, with the moon Ganymede labeled as a small gray disk transiting the planet's face and the moon Io labeled as a bright glowing point to the upper right. A 30 arcsecond scale bar sits at lower right.

The Sky Today on Tuesday, September 29: Ganymede transits Jupiter

Grayscale astrophotograph of a sparse star field dominated by a loose cluster of bright stars arranged in a rough triangular pattern across the center of the frame, set against thousands of fainter background stars scattered throughout the image.

The Sky Today on Monday, September 28: Open cluster M39 shines

Telescopic simulation of Saturn and its moons, dated September 27, 2026, 10 P.M. CDT. Saturn appears ringed at center left with Tethys, Rhea, and Dione labeled in a line extending to the upper left of the planet, while Titan appears as a bright point to the right. A 1 arcminute scale bar sits at lower center.

The Sky Today on Sunday, September 27: Catch Saturn’s satellites

Photograph of a Full Moon showing detailed gray cratered terrain and dark mare regions, positioned right of center against a deep blue and amber sky streaked with soft clouds, with a darker cloud band trailing below the Moon.

The Sky Today on Saturday, September 26: The Harvest Moon

Observing, The Moon

What is the Harvest Moon effect?

A Voyager 2 spacecraft image of Neptune showing the planet as a sphere with vivid blue and teal atmospheric bands, a large dark storm system visible in the southern hemisphere, and bright white clouds including a prominent high-altitude cloud streak near the center. The planet's limb glows with a subtle golden hue against the black background of space.

The Sky Today on Friday, September 25: Neptune at opposition

A Voyager 2 spacecraft image of Neptune showing the planet as a sphere with vivid blue and teal atmospheric bands, a large dark storm system visible in the southern hemisphere, and bright white clouds including a prominent high-altitude cloud streak near the center. The planet's limb glows with a subtle golden hue against the black background of space.

Sky This Week, The Sky This Week

The Sky This Week from September 25 to October 2: Neptune at opposition

A telescopic simulation showing Neptune in close proximity to the star HIP 968 on September 24, 2026, at midnight CDT. The two objects appear as a very tight pair of points near the center of the image against a deep blue-black background, with Neptune labeled just below HIP 968. A handful of other faint stars are scattered across the field, and a scale bar indicates 5 arcminutes.

The Sky Today on Thursday, September 24: Blue Neptune, yellow star