In this month's Night Sky Guide, we take a look at some of the wonderful celestial events taking place throughout October 2026, including Saturn at opposition, the Draconid, Southern Taurid and Orionid Meteor Showers, and a spectacular month of lunar and planetary conjunctions!
This month we cover:
🔭 Saturn at Opposition
💚 Aurora Season
🌕 The Full Hunter’s Moon
🌑 A Partial Lunar Occultation of the Pleiades
🌙 Moon and Planet Pairings
☄️ The Draconid Meteor Shower
☄️ The Southern Taurid Meteor Shower
☄️ The Orionid Meteor Shower
📸 Follower Favourites, our monthly showcase of photos sent in by you!
✨ Plus your regular monthly guide to what's visible in the UK night sky
The information in this guide is primarily intended for the average stargazer or landscape astrophotographer that lives in the UK and doesn't own a large telescope. If anything covered in this video requires a telescope to observe, this is mentioned along with the event/subject in question.
Information given assumes your viewing location is in the centre of the UK at a latitude of around 55 degrees North. This means that details and times given may vary slightly for you depending on your location but are otherwise a good general guide.
All times given are in British Summer Time (BST) until the clocks go back at 2am on Sunday 25 October. Times after that are given in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
One last thing to note is that the depictions and descriptions of the general monthly night sky views are given for times when the sky is near its darkest, with the specific times stated in text along with the graphical depictions.
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If you would like to learn more about our stargazing events, please head to our website:
All photographic images and timelapse sequences ©Astro Dog unless otherwise stated.
All graphical depictions created using Stellarium.
Music from Space Engine, Goodstreet – A Peaceful Place.
